Cairngorm & Boat of Garten

Out of the house at 5am this morning to take advantage of weather ideally suited to going to the top of Cairngorm.

I parked at the funicular and struggled up the mountain towards Ben Macdui & on to the plateau. On the way up I certainly heard Ptarmigan croaking but frustratingly could not get on any. Indeed I saw few birds of note aside from Wheatear and calling Red Grouse and Raven.

My lack of fitness meant many stops to admire the scenery.

Once on the plateau birds became easier and I got good views of 1 Ptarmigan as it slinked away behind some rocks. There were 2 showy Dotterel that flew infront of the camera allowing some opportunistic shots:

Several Snow Bunting were singing and I saw one distantly but a much better one showed on the way down:

A flyover Golden Plover was the first I had seen this year.

With time short I headed to the woods just outside Boat of Garten and had Crested Tit, Crossbill sp and 2 Redstart.