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By mid-month, I had recovered enough from January's back injury to risk a short break in the Scottish Highlands. My main target of this trip were Crested Tits, and they performed beautifully.
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Glen More, Highland
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Crested Tit (Lophophanes cristatus)
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Crested Tit (Lophophanes cristatus) - Glen More, Highland
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| Other species coming down to the feeders I set up near the Loch Morlich campsite included Blue Tits, Coal Tits and Chaffinches. |
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Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) - Glen More, Highland
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Coal Tit (Periparus ater) - Glen More, Highland
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Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) - Glen More, Highland
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| When not sitting by the feeders, I spent most of my time wandering around the forests enjoying the absolutely gorgeous weather. Because I didn't want to risk damaging my back again before it got a chance to properly heal, I left the big lens behind most of the time so missed a few opportunities to photograph a couple of small feeding flocks of Scottish Crossbills I encountered on my walks. |
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Glen More, Highland
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Ryvoan Pass, Highland
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| The only longish walk I took my big lens along with me was up the Northern Corries of Cairngorm to photograph Ptarmigan. The Ptarmigan here are relatively easy to find and are used to human activity so can be approached quite closely without disturbing them. |
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female Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) - Cairngorm, Highland
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male Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) - Cairngorm, Highland
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Northern Corries, Highland
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