A drop of the white stuff

A week before Christmas, up a Munro on the Eastern Cairgorms/Grampian hills and the temperature is +10!!!! What the hell is going on? Alan and I were asking the same question today as we climbed Carn Aosda. The sweat was ripping off me and all I had on was a fleece and base layer (trousers as well obviously but really could have gotten away with my kilt). There was little or no snow on the hills around us, even Macdui had nothing more than a few isolated patches. The hares were sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb and we were amazed at how many were on show, literally dozens in all honesty. We managed to get really close to one particular animal. I sometimes find that if you take your time, stop, chill, allow the animal to see you and realise you are not a threat to them; they in turn will allow you to get VERY close. We managed this and agreed at the same point there was no point in getting closer and invading the animals “personal space” as we had what we wanted, the sight of a stunning wee animal. We also managed a few pics as a keepsake, always a bonus. I must admit, the harder you work the more you reap; and so it proved as we ascended higher up the hill, the higher we went up, the more hares were on show. We even had a wee fly past by half a dozen or so Snow Buntings.

Our main target was the Ptarmigan and thankfully I managed to find them. These can be quite elusive wee birds but if you know their habits and habitats and call, luck is sometimes on your side. On this occasion we had 8 birds, all paired up and not sticking out as much as you might imagine. Incredible birds and as much as the male is very handsome, the hen bird is equally stunning in her own right.

On our descent we visited the Snow Buntings. Harking back to the first sentence of the blog, +10 is not a great thing for Highlands in December and more poignantly not great for the wildlife. And so it proved as the high temperatures appear to have put off the normal bunting feeding stations and there was no sign of these gorgeous wee birds.

A big thanks to Alan for his company today, I really enjoyed it and I’m glad I provided the opportunity to see the majority of the subjects that he was looking for.