A birthday treat
On a recent day safari, my guests Miriam, Ryan and I had a few unexpected sightings. This was a birthday present from Miriam to her boyfriend Ryan, a lovely thought. On our way to the hills to see hares and ptarmigan, we encountered a female hen harrier close to an area that I had recently spotted a male hen harrier sitting on a post. Unfortunately, we were driving north as the bird was heading in the opposite direction but it was still brilliant getting a sighting. On route to the hill we encountered a few buzzards and a large amount of red grouse by the roadside. Once we parked up, we set off up the hill and instantly came across a roe doe and her fawns. She seemed totally at ease at our presence and we spent a few minutes admiring her before moving on. On leaving the car, the hills looked a bit misty on the peaks and this only got worse as we ascended. Through the mist we spotted a lot of hares and then Ryan spotted a few ravens dive bombing a raptor. The raptor turned out to be a golden eagle……….awesome. It was such a pity it was so misty but just getting a relatively close view of this magnificent bird was incredible. A good few more hares and a snow bunting were sighted before getting to the summit and although the mist spoiled the view it was still eerily beautiful. On our descent we came across a lone female ptarmigan strutting her stuff not far from us.
After a wee bite to eat (a quality black pudding and bacon roll) we headed to my woodland hide. On the way there we spotted another buzzard sitting on a pole. At our arrival at the hide, we were blessed with 5 jays coming in, woodpeckers, a multitude of wee birdies and a wee red squirrel. At the nearby pond there were more than a few hawkers and dragonflies pinging about. From there we visited Bamff estate to admire the beavers work with a view to watching the beavers at the river later on in the evening.
After a wee while at Bamff we headed out to watch a couple of female marsh harriers, one adult and one tagged juvenile. As we were watching, an osprey appeared and started hunting. We weren’t lucky enough to see it catch anything but it did “splash down” and as much as we hoped for a success it wasn’t to be.
After the harriers and osprey we headed back to Blairgowrie for an early visit to the river. Our early visit proved fruitful with a good few sightings of kingfishers and a rather ticked off heron. Said heron was having a languid flight up the river and when it drew level with our hiding spot, it saw us, and let off a typical “croak” as it took a noisy diversion away from us. The kingfishers kept us entertained, with one sitting just up from us, until the beavers appeared. Unfortunately we only spotted a yearling but it was still a lovely sighting. So, all in, I think my guests had an enjoyable day, Happy Birthday Ryan
