Cairngorms National Park - Holiday 2022 - Part 2

Each year my partner and I go on holiday to a different part of the UK. We've done Peak District, Lake District, Wales, Norfolk Broads, New Forest etc etc. This year we chose to head up to the Highlands of Scotland. More specifically, we stayed in Boat of Garten (near Aviemore) which is on the edge of the Cairngorms Forest National Park.

Day 2 - Loch Garten, Loch Mallachie and Milton Loch

Here we go with Day 2 of the holiday. After spending all day sat in the car yesterday, we were looking forward to actually exploring this beautiful location. Today we were visiting RSPB Loch Garten, a nature reserve just round the corner from where we were staying. It is nestled in the middle of the Cairngorms Forest and features two Lochs inside its boundary.

It is supposedly a great place for wildlife, with plenty of water birds on the Lochs, and then in the woodland there are Red Squirrels, Crested Tits and other Pine Woodland specialists, so lets see what we can find...

Firstly though, I want to share the sight of the first Loch, Loch Garten which is right next to the parking area in the reserve, just look at that view.

So good in fact that it deserved a proper panorama taking (taken with a 10mm-18mm wide angle lens).

Yes, I know what you're thinking,

You're in Scotland where it always rains... that blue sky has got to be fake

I promise you, this was almost straight out of the camera... it was a beautiful morning when we arrived, although true to form the rain duly arrived later on (it is Scotland after all!)

First up, we needed to get our bearings, so we headed up to the Nature Centre to find out where to go to see stuff. Outside the Centre were a selection of bird feeders...

...where we saw some Siskins feeding

...along with this Chaffinch.

Watching on enviously further back in the branches were several Woodpigeons

The bird feeders are designed for smaller the birds, the Pigeons generally have to feed from the floor underneath the feeders to eat what ever is left

A sneaky Siskin playing hide and seek!

After we got bored with the birds on the feeders, we headed of down the path towards the Lochs

In amongst the tree roots I spied this tiny little fungi... I'm pretty sure it'll become one of the Club species, but I think its still to small here to tell

Another view over Loch Garten (the blue sky has already disappeared!)

The path now took us deeper into the forest. This was were the Crested Tits were supposed to be... but we looked high up into the branches and couldn't see anything.

There was lots of birdsong though, and we tried to pinpoint where the sounds were coming from

And finally we spotted one of the birds singing. Not the species we ere hoping for, but this Chaffinch was great to see, singing his little heart out!

I could stood watching him for hours, but was acutely aware of the weather closing in.

At the end of the path we found the second Loch, Loch Mallachie

Not quite as photogenic as the first one, but this one did have signs of life on it in the shape of various ducks and geese.

Here is a Greylag Goose

Then we have a female Mallard Duck

With some cute little ducklings in tow

After admiring the view, we started to head back to the car, and we barely managed to get back in time to beat the brief rain storm that appeared.

(honestly, we were so lucky with the weather all week while we were here!)

We headed back to the cottage for lunch, and to sit and chill and look through the images we took.

Later on, after we had Dinner, we decided to head back out for a wander in the evening. A quick look at the map, revealed that there was a small Loch, just the otherside of the village, apparently managed by the local community.

It even had a small bird hide... perfect!

Milton Loch was much smaller than the other two we visited earlier, the notice board showed a small path around the woodland, and we ignored that and went straight to the bird hide...

It looked a little unkept, and that tree in the middle is slightly distracting, but on the whole it looked like a lovely little place to do a spot of birdwatching.

There were some Tufted Ducks over the far side, and then this noisy Oystercatcher was wheeling over head calling continuously.

Its a naff picture, but at least you can tell that it is an Oystercatcher eh?

Over the far side we were watching a Swan meander along the side of the Loch, when suddenly we spotted a Grey Heron stalking through the reeds.

He was really far away though.

That Heron really needs to come closer so I can take some better pictures...

And evidently he heard me muttering under my breath, so he did!

Thats much better!

It was getting late in the evening now, and we were losing the light as the sun set behind us.

There was just enough time to get a better image of this Mute Swan, and then we made our way back to the Lodge for the night.

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