BACK HOME IN THE CAIRNGORMS

Purple Sandpiper

Deserted Fiacaill Coire Sneachda

Pair of juvenile ptarmigan

Loch Avon

The beautiful song of the Snow bunting

Climbers on Savage Slit

Mountain Hare in dark summer plumage

Flowers superb just now, almost like the Alps

A calm Loch Avon

Juvenile Golden Plover

Cairn Lochan

Male ptarmigan

Hardly a trickle in the Feithe Buidhe, check out the white rock!

Female Ptarmigan

Good to be out and about in the Cairngorms after a 4 week spell out in The Alps. The first thing anyone would notice is the lack of people, if you get off the main trails. An early start and up into Coire an t-Sneachda. I saw just one other person on the way up to the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda. It was dull day, considering a decent forecast of some 'bright, sunny periods'. There was none really! What we didn't get in terms of weather was well made up by the abundance of bird life and flora in the hills. Spring has passed and well into summer and plenty of juvenile birds around on the plateau. Top spots today were Purple Sandpiper, singing snow bunting, and of course ptarmigan. The long, hot and dry summer has had it's toll on water in the Cairngorms, just like every other place in the UK. I've never seen the Feithe Buidhe so low, virtually just a trickle down from the waterfall into Loch Avon basin. The most strange sight was how white looking the granite slabs were that are usually covered in flowing and gushing water.