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| Loch Garten is part of the
RSPB's Abernethy Forest reserve and is world famous for its breeding ospreys.
The area is a remnant of the once extensive Caledonian Forest and includes
forest bogs, lochs, heather moorland, mountain plkateau and crofting land.
In addition to the Osprey, the reserve holds several pine forest
"specialities", such as Crested Tit, Scottish Crossbill and Capercaillie,
all of which we missed, giving us a great reason to return some day!
For birds that day, our best experience was with a very confiding Black-headed Gull who actually came close enough for me to photograph it. |
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Live Video of Osprey and Great Tit nests |
Sightings Board |
| The Osprey Centre itself was
very interesting, with all kinds of people willing to help out the Canadians.
There is a feeding area very close to the building, with Greenfinch, and
a variety of Tits busily bopping around. As we watched the osprey nest,
the male osprey brought several fish to the nesting female. Although we
spent about two hours roaming the forest and Loch Garten edges, we saw
nothing unusual, and didn't see a single species that we had travelled
here specificially to find! And, since this was our last birding day in
Scotland, we were doomed to miss a chance to try again.
The next day, we left our base in Fort Augustus and took the Oban to Lochgihead road back to Glasgow, spotting a variety of waterbirds, including Common Eider, in the lochs along the way. Loch Feachan was by far the best viewing location along this road. After saying our goodbyes to Duncan's sister in Glasgow, we headed south to Lancashire and Leighton Moss RSPB. |
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Back to Loch
Ruthven and the Findhorn Valley, Scotland
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