It had already been a hectic and taxing start to our fortnight in The Highlands of Scotland with two uphill walks already undertaken. We were supposed to be relaxing, taking it easy, we were on holiday after all, but the fact that we'd failed to find any Ptarmigan or Dotterel on our Cairngorm walk just two days before was playing heavily on my mind and I knew that we had to summon the legs to go up again. With the weather forecast looking mixed at best, Thursday dawned dry and bright, if a tad windy, and promised to stay that way for the entire day so we took the hasty decision to walk up to the top of Carn Ban Mor, another high top favoured by birders because a good path gives relatively easy access to the plateau. It's a long walk though, at least a couple of miles to the top, and every step is uphill, obviously as you'd expect, with the last few hundred metres punishing for old knees like mine.
The reason we choose this part of Scotland to take our holidays is because of the special birds that reside in the mountain area. Ptarmigan and Dotterel are two of our most sought after birds while in the Cairngorms and the trip wouldn't feel complete if we missed out on them. The carpark at Achlean was empty as we began our walk. Before we had reached the start of the walk proper we had already seen Tree Pipits, Willow Warblers, Stonechats and a Blackcap amongst others. We paused at the road end and looked up towards the tops and the path ahead. Carn Bam Mor was clear of the wispy cloud and the rest of the skies looked clear so we should have a good walk in reasonable conditions.
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| Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis) |
As with most mountain walks there is little on offer for the birder en route. On this walk there are Coal Tits and Siskins in the wooded area and when the trees thin out you see plenty of Meadow Pipits and may come across a Wheatear or two but for the large part there is little to see and you don't see the special montane species until you get near the top.
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| Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) |
We walk slowly and take lots of breaks which is good because I get a chance to scan around for raptors. We have seen Golden Eagles high above the glen in the past. The skies were empty this time apart from the ubiquitous Common Gulls toing and froing along the River Feshie. A couple of hours after setting out we reached the "Saddle" a narrow section of path between two hills and the start of the steep ascent to Carn Ban Mor itself. It's always windy at this point and today was no exception. One year we got this far and turned around because we could barely stay attached to the ground. That U-turn worked to our advantage that day because on the way down from the hill we met a chap who told us about a Cock Capercaillie that was showing extremely well by a roadside near Nethybridge. Today however, it wasn't so bad so we continued on our laboured way up the track.
A few showers came our way and being exposed to the elements we had no choice but to put our backs to the weather and get wet. In the stiff breeze the showers thankfully didn't last long and they had soon passed. It's on this upper reach of the path when I begin very careful scanning of the terrain both sides of the track. We've seen Dotterel and Ptarmigan readily here but it seems as if both species are scarce on the Cairngorms this year. Halfway up the steep path another scan of the hillside finally revealed something interesting when one of the boulders nestled in amongst the vegetation suddenly moved slightly and exhibited a red blotch in its top right corner! It was a male Ptarmigan, barely noticeable without careful scrutiny, and sat only around twenty metres away from the path.
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| Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) |
We edged closer to the bird until we were broadside and able to get some better views and photos. I crept forward a bit more to get some closer shots. Ptarmigan can be extremely tolerant of people but I feel it still pays to be respectful and maintain some distance between them and us. Having said that I've had Ptarmigan walk over my feet while I've been sat watching them before so there isn't too much need to be careful around them, unless they have chicks or are sat on a nest. Spring was late on the mountains this year so they would only just be pair bonding this early in June.
We decided to eat our picnic while sat near to the Ptarmigan. The male bird relaxed and resumed its own lunch. I thought I heard the distant call of a Dotterel but despite much searching of the airspace I couldn't find any flyover birds. I scanned the hillside above us looking for more Ptarmigan and then further off for either species but to no avail. Then incredibly I did spot another Ptarmigan, this time a female. Amazingly it was also secreted in the short vegetation but only a few feet from the male! Despite it being there, hiding in plain sight, I hadn't noticed it for a whole fifteen minutes! Ptarmigan really are masters of camouflage.
I secured a few more photos of the pair of "Mountain Chickens" as Ptarmigan are sometimes referred to, particularly the male bird because it decided to stand up and show off its white belly and feathered legs.
We walked up the remaining few metres of the track and emerged out onto the plateau. Once there I scanned far and wide for any Dotterel and came up empty handed. I left Mrs Caley to take a breather and marched in a wide circle scanning as much as the area as I could but frustratingly couldn't find anything on the top at all. Beaten I rejoined my wife and bemoaned the fact that we'd seemingly be missing out on seeing Dotterel on this trip and possibly for the year. But miracles do happen sometimes and as we sat there contemplating the long walk back to the car, the plaintive call of a Dotterel carried on the wind towards us. I was on my feet in a flash and I was looking upwards and around. I spotted the source of the call hurtling towards us about a hundred metres away. To our enormous good fortune the Dotterel, a brightly coloured female, and although high up, passed almost right over us. I had time to increase the exposure on the camera and take some shots of the bird as it flew over. Not our best views ever by a long chalk but we had Dotterel on our year list.
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| Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) |
Unfortunately the Dotterel kept going and we watched it disappear into the distance but we could now undertake the return journey happy that we'd seen both of our target birds. Our Big Year dreams had nudged a couple of steps closer with the two hard earned ticks. More importantly we had enjoyed our trek up to Carn Ban Mor, enjoyed the scenery and the few birds we'd seen. And we hadn't seen another soul all day. I love the Cairngorms!
Year List additions;
234) Ptarmigan, 235) Dotterel
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