Bird Camp Reunion - Speyside Birding Day 3

Bird Camp Reunion - Speyside

7 June 2026

Craigellachie NNR

Today, despite going to bed no earlier than midnight, we woke up at 6:00am, and headed to Craigellachie NNR, just outside Aviemore. When we arrived, we were treated to great views of up to 4 Ospreys, as well as a Kestrel.

Osprey

Osprey

Ospreys were once a very rare bird, with Speyside being their historic stronghold. The famous pair at Loch Garten, arrived from Scandinavia and nested, back in 1954. Since then, they have spread far and wide, now being a fairly common raptor in most of Scotland, and ever-increasing in England and Wales.

Great Spotted Woodpecker male

feeding chicks

Once everyone had arrived, we went to join the ringers in the forest. While watching the demonstration, I heard my first Cuckoo of the year. We were lucky enough to release some of the birds, most of which were Siskins, Coal Tits, and Great Tits. After the ringing, the two groups switched activities, and I went up to look for Pied Flycatcher, among other scarce birch forest specialists, such as Wood Warbler. On the way, we stopped briefly to watch a Little Grebe sat on a nest. Eventually, we reached the Pied Flycatcher nest box.

Little Grebe sat on nest

While we were busy watching the Great Spotted Woodpecker, which was feeding its young in a nest cavity, the male Pied Flycatcher appeared. For the next 30 mins, we watched the pair bringing insects and feeding their chicks. We also saw another male, further down the hill. The Pied Flycatcher, was my 199th bird for the year, though only my 139th in Scotland (going to Tahiti and France gave a big boost!).

Male Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher at the nest box

A rather elusive adult female Pied Flycatcher 

Sadly, although I heard a very distant Redstart, I couldn't find a Spotted Flycatcher (which would have been my 200). When we got back to the car park, we saw a Song Thrush fledgling, and learnt from Felix and his mum that there were two Wood Warblers when we were away! Although I was disappointed to miss such a cool species (my favourite bird song is that of the Wood Warbler), I couldn't complain with all the other good birds we had seen and people we had met.

Thanks to Ruth Edmonds for organising such an amazing event.

Bird Camp Reunion - Speyside Birding Day 2

Bird Camp Reunion - Speyside

6 June 2026

Inch Marshes RSPB

Today, after some swimming in the pool at the MacDonald Hotel, where we stayed the night, we drove down to Kingussie, at Inch Marshes RSPB to join the other young birders. Unfortunately, we missed the Moth Trapping session, but I did get the some of the others their lifer Tree Pipit.

We then walked back to the hide, where we scanned the hills for raptors. Sadly, other than a few Buzzards, raptors were low in numbers. We scanned the wetland in front us and saw a flock of Greylag Geese, some Snipe, Lapwings, and Curlews. We then had lunch and I managed to get a nice photo of a male Orange-Tip.

Orange-Tip

After lunch, we went looking for more butterflies in a meadow nearby. Sadly, it was quite overcast, so the only butterfly we saw was a female Orange-Tip. We did find a very large Violet Oil Beetle, and some other cool insects. We were also treated to seeing Heath Spotted, and Northern Marsh Orchids, as well as hearing another Tree Pipit.

One of many Dung Beetles

Common Heath Moth

Cairn Gorm

After that, we drove to Cairn Gorm mountain, to look for Ring Ouzel. When we arrived, Felix and Josh had already seen a male fly from the car park to the midstation. We waited for the others to arrive before making the trek up. We saw a few Meadow Pipits on the way, as well as a single Wheatear.

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Eventually, after hearing them a few times, we saw the first of several Ring Ouzels feeding in the short grass near the midstation. We got decent views of the birds, and I even managed to get an audio recording of one individual.

Male Ring Ouzel

Male Ring Ouzel

Visiting the UK's highest phone box

(651m above sea level)

A miserable Cairn Gorm

Before leaving to the wildlife hide, Felix and I went to look for the Osprey nest at Loch Insh, near our accommodation. We soon found the nest, where one of the adults was sat. The other was perched on a nearby tree before going fishing, and bringing back a large trout, which its partner fed to their chicks. We also saw a female Goldeneye, before leaving to the hide.

Speyside Wildlife Mammal Watching Hide

At around 8:25, Harris, a staff member from Speyside Wildlife showed us to the hide. He put out the food, and the show started. We saw many Wood Mice, as well as some birds, including Blackbirds and Chaffinches before it got dark.

Blackbird

Wood Mouse

Before long, we saw our first Badger. Badgers are the largest predator in the UK. They are a nocturanl species, and are mustelids, members of the Mustelidae family, which includes Weasels, Stoats, Pine Martens, and Otters. 

Over the course of the evening, we saw three Badgers, and were able to enjoy good views of them at close quarters as they fed on the peanuts that were put out for them. Some members of the group, including myself, even got a glimpse of a Barn Owl. Although we didn't see Pine Martens or Scottish Wildcat, it was a wonderful evening nonetheless.

Bird Camp Reunion - Speyside Birding Day 1

Bird Camp Reunion - Speyside

5 June 2026

Glenmore Campsite

Today, after arriving in Aviemore, we had dinner and headed to Glenmore, on the Loch Morlich shore, for a bat walk, led by bat expert, James. Before it got dark, we saw some Black-headed Gulls, some Mallards with young, and a Common Sandpiper. 

After walking along the shore for a bit, we entered the forest, where we started seeing our first bats. Using our bat detectors, we identified them as Common Pipistrelles. Despite getting massacred by the midges, we continued on to a small bridge over a stream, where we were lucky enough to spot 2 Woodcocks roding. We also heard (kind of) a Sopranno Pipistrelle, and a Daubenton's Bat.

"Hockey stick" call of Common Pipistrelle

on a spectrogram

Some members of the group saw what they thought was a Beaver, so they headed off to search for it. When we found them again, they had got reasonable views of the Beaver.