Colours of the Cairngorms

During another trip to the Cairngorms national park in August ‘23 it was noticeable how many different colours there were! As summer makes way to autumn and the flora and fauna change. Here is a round up of my trip!

I visited a few places on this visit, all while staying close to Loch Garten at a wonderful place called Loch Garten Lodges. Not only was the lodge we stayed in amazing and comfortable, it boasted wildlife visiting the decking such as Red Squirrels and Pine Martens! We stayed up late every night to try catch a glimpse of the Pine Martens as they came for some of the treats we left out. Absolutely amazing to see so close up - they even come right up to the door threshold to check you out!

Our accommodation was situated on the edge of the Abernethy forest so a wonder through the trees was had as well as a walk to a large pond with a boardwalk famous for its Dragonfly population. A good while was spent here watching the different species of Dragon dart around, land on the reeds and even on the wooden railings we were stood by. They seemed fearless and at one point I had one on my fingertip!

One of the most notable colours on this trip to Scotland was the pink of the vast amounts of Heather which carpeted so much of the landscape - even the mountains seemed to be pink!

Another place with plenty of Heather was Lochindorb which also has a castle in the middle of the loch and is famed for having Red Grouse among the heather. The ruins of the castle are the former stronghold of the Clan Comyn dating back to the 13th century. The name Lochindorb comes from the Gaelic term for “Loch of Trouble”.

Even the drive back from Lochindorb provided a couple of stops for a photograph!

As we were staying so close to Loch Garten and the RSPB centre there we visited a couple of times hoping to catch a glimpse of Osprey and Crested Tits, sadly the Osprey had already left on their migration to west Africa and the “Cresties” kept us waiting until our last day! Always a delight to see! There were also more colours on show in this part of the Abernethy forest…

A couple of stops close by to our lodge included Carrbridge, famous for the oldest stone bridge in the highlands. We also had a stop for lunch at a place called Dalnahaitnach which is simply just a dilapidated cottage at the end of a road. This area has a large expanse in front of it however which is a good place to look out for raptors such as Eagles. The sandwiches almost went on the floor when we spotted a Golden Eagle!!!

Next up was a prearranged evening in the Speyside wildlife hide hoping to view and photograph Badgers. The site is geared towards seeing the wildlife and photography is a bonus. Viewing is from a comfortable hide behind glass with some outside lights illuminating the floor outside which is covered in forest floor materials such as logs and stumps etc. Peanuts are scattered around the area and peanut butter smeared into the stumps. Sultanas and peanuts are also placed on a raised area for the visiting Pine Martens!

The session ran from 19:30-22:30 with our guide staying with us, providing some commentary and facts about the badgers, even handing round an old badger skull for us to have a look at! The badgers came in soon after the food was put out and they foraged around for a good hour before moving on. A couple of others then appeared for their turn. The weather was awful! really heavy rain pounding down so it was nice to be sat dry and comfortable in the hide. The badgers actually like the rain as it brings out their favourite food - worms!

We spent the last hour sat waiting and hoping for a Pine Marten but alas it didn’t show, maybe the weather had a hand in that? Maybe if the session went on even later we would eventually have seen one? Overall a great view of the badgers, we think we saw 8 individuals plus a couple of wood mice scurrying around. My daughter was overjoyed to see her first badgers! Photography isn’t easy as the light is not the best plus you are shooting through glass but as I said, it was more about the viewing experience…

Loch An Eilein in the Rothiemurchus forest was out next stop. Its name meaning “Loch of the island”. It is famed for its ruined castle on an island in the loch. It was once the sight of breeding Ospreys but Victorian egg collectors put paid to that! We also enjoyed the circular walk around the loch and its forest, noticing the changing colours and emerging fungi. It was a warm and wet day however so the midges were out en masse! No amount of bug spray seemed to work!

Onwards now to RSPB Insh Marshes near Kingussie. The reserve covers 10 square kilometres of the river Spey floodplain and is a mix of woodland and marshland habitat. We visited here last year on a rainy day and saw pretty much nothing except a frog on the way back to the car. This time we were surely going to have better luck?

On our way to the first hide we could hear some bird calls coming from the long grass in the adjacent field. This turned out to be a family of Pheasants which was nice to see, They were probably trying to keep hidden from what we saw when we got to the hide! Quartering low over the marshes were a couple of female Hen Harriers, super rare birds! Amazing to see even if the photos were distant. This was certainly a better visit than last time!

After waiting for a bit to see if the Harriers would return and hopefully come closer we ventured along to the next hide which is at marsh level. The hope was id get better shots of the Harriers if they came back. They did not return while we were there but we did see a Marsh Harrier hunting in the rain and a couple of Roe Deer venturing among the wildflower meadow. A complete contrast to our last visit here - a must return now for hopefully more Hen Harriers!

On our way back to our lodge on the last evening I noticed the sunset starting to cast some nice light. I dashed along to Loch Garten to see if the light was nice there. It certainly was! A great way to end our trip to the Cairngorms! Despite the incessant midge attacks on some days, overall we had a great time. We visited some great places, some new places and discovered a few places I would love to return to one day! The only thing to learn really was that we were a tad too late for the Ospreys which had already started their migration towards Africa. Our next visit will certainly take this into consideration.

The Cairngorms is vast, there are still many places I have yet to explore and wildlife I have yet to see….So another trip will be in the pipeline at some point!

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Lakenheath Fen