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| Ptarmigan! |
Absolute top wildlife day in the Cairngorms on Thursday.
Ptarmigan numbers have been on a decline the last few years. Today I was so elated to have lots of excellentsightseeing.s.
A flock of at least 16
A flock of 6
A single juvenile male
Another flock of 6
All in a relatively small area.
To put this into context. I've not seen numbers of ptarmigan like this for over 5 years.
Topped off by a beautiful Mountain Hare towards the end of the day.
Most are now well into their white plumage and looking superb. Once the winds eased by late morning their croaking all over the hillside was a joy.
A sharp contrast to the constant noise of the helicopter up and down the hill earlier in the day. The train is still knackered. It was supposed to be fixed by last winter. Then they said this Autumn. Now they're stating early 2023. Anyway enough of that nonsense.
A light dusting of snow above 1100m and below freezing on the Plateau. There were a few snow showers in the morning, replaced by bright sunshine. Hopefully staying in a cold spell snd lots of snow will do nicely.
On Friday I was back in the Monadhliath, photographing the Mountain Hares.
These beautiful creatures are now well into transformation to their winter pelage. One wee guy was so at ease. When they are cleaning and grooming themselves in front of you it's a sure sign you are no threat to their daily life up in the hills.
Nice to have two lovely weather days back to back. Not many of those recently. For the first time this season we had a frost down in Aviemore.
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| First frost this season in Aviemore |
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