AUTUMN

The 1st of September marks the Meteological Autumn. Yes! July and August are my least favourite months in the Scottish Highlands. Too warm, usually wet, midgey, poor clarity of air and too busy on the hills and on the roads. The best months are now here. Mother nature knows this well and the weather today reflected the change in season. A good stiff Cairngorm breeze was blowing, much cooler temperatures, beautiful light and the wonderful colours of Autumn starting to show through in the vegetation. Oh, and no midges :)

I took a wander up on the long Northern ridge that runs up to the Cairngorm plateau from the Ciste carpark and the finest, quietest and least 'ski industry infected' route to Cairn Gorm summit. It's also a great area to see some wildlife for those reasons. My previous visit here I was priveleged to spot Ptarmigan with 3 Juveniles. You get a grand view looking down Strath Nethy if you stick to the edge of these broad, grassy ridges

The wind was quite strong from when I set out.  Higher up, above 1100m, I dropped down into Ciste Mheard to get out of the breeze and to check out the lingering snow patch in this area. There is a 30 m long patch of snow hanging on. A snow tunnel has formed but it's quite low and the roof quite thin so I never ventured far into it.

There had been clear skies early morning but by mid day the cloud was building from the South on the Southerly winds. It is always quite dramatic here in the Cairngorms when a strong South wind blows over the plateau. Huge billowing clouds are created, usually topping the high ground and leaving Strath Spey to the North in the clear.

After lunch I walked up onto the Eastern slopes of Cairn Gorm. This is pathless terrain and you'll see no one in this area. I did get a nice encounter with a Mountain Hare at around 1150m, high altitude hares are brilliant to see. They must be in a select club. Usually lone hares up on the highest slopes, plateaux and summits.

There are still some late Summer flowers about. Devils's Bit Scabious, Harebells's and Alpine Ladies Mantle, even at high altitudes. I ventured across to the top of Stag Rocks it was great to see a couple of Ptarmigan. I'm now seeing these wonderful birds every time I am out in the Cairngorms. This is a good sign that maybe their numbers are on the way back up.

I walked over to the finest viewpoints looking down to Loch A'an. By now Ben Macdui was now in thick cloud and the sun was getting blanked out. I headed back across the plateau via Feithe Buidhe. Up to this point I had only seen a few folk, from a distance. Nearly all my route up to this point had been off a path. At 3.10pm I spotted a few folk wearing shorts at Lochan Buidhe, heading up on the Ben Macdui path. I was feeling slightly overdressed in a fleece top and softshell trousers with thin waterproofs on top. It had started to lightly rain.

I eventually dropped into Coire an Lochain, even here the winds were gusting to above 40mph at 900m. The winds had steadily increased since this morning. On the walk back down to the Cas carpark the sun was shining over the Rothmurchis Forest and Strathspey. Meanwhile, behind me, the clouds were thick, dark and rain bearing.

LAST OF THE DOTTEREL THIS SEASON?

 

WEDNESDAY 19TH AUGUST

I mentioned on my previous blog post that I may have seen the last of the Dotterel for this season. How wrong am I? I was very pleased to see a beautiful group of 4 this Wednesday. I had a visit to my usual haunt in the Monadhliath. 

It was another hot day with the usual theme of a temperature inversion in the Strath. This slowly broke up through the morning. There wasn't a breath of wind all the way up to 800m early on in the morning. I was engulfed by millions of midges! If you're just 'hillwalking' then at least you are going at a reasonable pace to get away from them. For the wildlife photographer it is a nightmare! The midge net was on as well as a pair of gloves. Trying to see any wildlife through the mesh of a net is well nigh impossible, never mind getting the camera up to your eye. I was about to give up after two hours of this, that was until I had walked up to the 800m level when a breeze kicked in and the hot sun eventually got rid of the blighters.

Below me was a sea of cloud and it was a relief to be able to sit in the breeze and hot sun without the pesky midges biting. Apparently a 9 mph wind and above is enough to see them off. Direct sunlight and heat is another deterrent. In our recent spell of hot and sunny weather I am convinced that these conditions hasn't really had much affect on them. Maybe they're becoming immune? I roamed about now I was unconfined by midge net and swarms of insects. Beautiful views with a bank of cloud sitting on the high Cairngorms to the south. The Mountain Hare weren't sitting about much today, probably cursed with the midges as us humans, no doubt.

By mid day I thought it was safe to walk back down the hill as the breeze seemed to have increased at lower elevations. Then I spotted 4 Dotterel right in front of me. I backed up the hill a bit and lay down behind a couple of rocks.  Lovely to watch them as they just sat and stood about in the sun. The adult female Dotterel loose their vibrant rusty red breeding plumage by late Summer and into Autumn. So much so it can seem difficult to identify if they are adults or juveniles. I am pretty sure these were all adults. I reckon it is the same group I have been observing all Summer. What a treat to see them again and in beautiful sunlight. 

I must have lay on the ground the best part of an hour watching these wonderful, beautiful migratory waders. Only a couple of hours earlier I was thinking of going home because of the horrendous clouds of midges. I wouldn't have been lying on the ground then, that's for sure. Eventually I left the Dotterel to get on with their last days on a Scottish mountainside. The priority when photographing any wildlife is always, always the welfare of the species, no mater if they are common or rare. The animals should never feel in threat or disturbed. 

Also spotted today were a group of Golden Plover, Wheatear and lots of flocks of young Meadow Pipit.

 Maybe that was my last sighting of the Dotterel for 2020? Maybe....

THURSDAY 20 AUGUST

A much fresher feeling day. A stiff breeze blowing from the west, temperatures back to normal Summer values and clearer skies. The wind meant no midges (hooray!). I went for a nice afternoon mountain bike ride on one of the many routes we enjoy here in the Cairngorms and Strathspey region. One of my regular routes is Ryvoan Pass from Aviemore up Glenmore, returning via Nethey Bridge via the Speyside Way. Virtually all of it is off tarmac roads so nice to get away from the busy traffic we are experiencing just now. Having said that it wasn't very quiet up the Old Logging Way in Glenmore. Lots of bikers out. Once past Lochain Uaine and Ryvoan Bothy it was much, much quieter with hardly any bikes or walkers. 

The heather is just wonderful right now. Huge swathes of it throughout my route. This bike ride is a very easy and short day. If you want to make it even more relaxing then there are cafes and pubs throughout the route and very conveniently placed! You are never more than an hour from refreshments! To make the day longer you can keep an eye out for wildlife. The route goes through the two biggest tracts of Caledonian Pine Forests in the UK, the Rothiemurchus & Abernethy Forests. Plenty of wildlife abut here. Today's highlights were the many species of Dragonflies around the may wee lochans and pools of water beside the trail.

Dragonflies, just like the Dotterel,  will soon be gone, until next Summer. Until then, enjoy the last of the Summer days. 'My' Osprey has already departed on his long journey back to West Africa. Autumn not far away.

HEAT, INVERSIONS, WILDLIFE, SNOW & MIDGES

 

Catching up on 5 days of fun in the mountains. It's been another week of very hot weather and hardly any breeze, even at Munro level. A lot of days with low cloud in the glens and clear above, or clearing weather. These conditions are known as temperature inversions or cloud inversions. These are usually more common in the Autumn and Winter months. With the high pressure sat over much of Scotland and hardly any winds then these were ideal conditions for this. The cooler air sinks into the valley floor while the warmer air mass is pushed upwards, the exact opposite of 'normal' atmospheric conditions where it's colder the higher you go up the hill. 

WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST

A very hot day at all levels with absolutely no breeze up on the Monadhliath. A day of Mountain Hare photography. With the hot conditions it was frustrating to get so much heat haze coming off the ground and distorting any images taken from a distance. Still it was great to be amongst the hares again. 

THURSDAY 13TH AUGST

Another day of Mountain Hare Photography (it's addictive)! The heather is just about into its prime condition just now with the hillsides looking stunning, especially in the Eastern Highlands where we have an abundance of Ling, the most common and most colourful of the heathers. I wanted to try and get a good image of the Mountain Hare in amongst the heather. A very muggy day with no wind again but lots of cloud cover in the morning. Ideal midge conditions! Even the hares were scratching and rubbing their faces. Another tricky day for photography, this time it was the midges getting in the camera lens and my eyes! Thankfully a wee breeze higher up the hill and toward the end of the day to get rid of them. I need to go back to get the 'perfect' heather and hare shot. In photography no one, ever as had perfect shots. That's why we keep going back!

FRIDAY 14TH AUGUST

A good sunny skies forecast for the high Cairngorm mountains. The low cloud was going to give the temperature inversion conditions I was hoping for. At Coire Cas it was a blanket of cloud (and midges)! So that got me moving quickly. I was on the plateau when the skies started clearing to the South and West. Behind me the wall of cloud sat in the Northern Corries.

I reached the summit of Ben Macdui in 1 hour 45 mins, it must have been the midges keeping me moving fast! Or was it the anticipation of getting some photographs of the cloud dispersing?

I sat just off the summit of Macdui for over an hour, gazing out to the Cairn Toul-Braeriach plateau across the Lairig Ghru. Beautiful.

From just beyond Macduis summit you get a fantastic panorama of the Cairn Toul - Braeriach massive. From here you get a look into the huge Corries on these mountains. The snow patches in Braeriach's Garbh Coire Mor are looking good. This time last year they were just about melted away. This location and Ben Nevis's Observatory Gully are the two places were snow lingers all year round and only on a handful of occasions has the snow completely gone.

I headed East off Macdui's summit and into a seldom visited area where no paths exist. The last time I was here was in winter many years ago. The source of the Garbh Uisge Mor burn begins up here. A fascinating place with a few small snow patches hanging on amongst the boulders and beautiful vegetation. A fine place to camp in solitude. I spotted a few friendly Wheatear and Snow Bunting on my way down and across to Carn Etchachan

After lunch I visited the Snow Tunnels at the Feithe Buidhe slabs. A 'new' tunnel has formed since I was last here just over a week ago. This new one has a slightly low entrance of about 1 metre so a crawl was needed to explore inside. I came out wet with snow melt drops and the wet floor. Within 5 minutes I was completely dried out, a hot afternoon in store.

This whole area above Loch A'an is one of the finest places you can ever visit in the Cairngorms, indeed in the whole of the Highlands. A place with no paths just grand mountain, rock and water scenery. Since posting up pictures of the snow tunnels in the last week or so I have had 4  'enquiries' from folk on social media channels who have requested 'written route descriptions' of  'how to get to the snow'. As mentioned in earlier blog posts, it's half a day on pathless terrain at high altitudes. A full day in total. There is some knarly ground to get to the snow then it's a case of assessing the snow on the day to see if it is safe to explore. All this comes with experience of being in the Scottish mountains over many years. The main concern here is navigation. It would be completely unacceptable and unprofessional of me to start giving out  route descriptions to folk. Someone even asked me 'what carpark do I start from?" I'll say no more on the matter!

After immersing myself in such beautiful and raw surroundings I then wandered back across the plateau late afternoon. It was still hot but a wee breeze so just enough to feel very comfortable and enjoyable and not overheating. I was just at the top of Stag Rocks getting some photographs when suddenly a beautiful Mountain Hare came running up from below me and abruptly stopped only a metre above my head. It looked straight at me in surprise! I'm not sure who was the most surprised though! Then a couple of minutes later a wonderful pair of Ptarmigan appeared. Brilliant.

Just 20 minutes from 1141m and I spotted another pair of Ptarmigan. This is great to see. Numbers of these beautiful birds in the Northern Cairngorms have been woefully low in recent times. Hopefully numbers are on the up. I hardly saw anyone all day until coming back down into Coire Cas. Another great bike ride back to the house from the carpark in beautiful early evening sunshine. Top day.

SATURDAY 15TH AUGUST

Another hot day in store with wall to wall sunshine in most places across the Highlands. The usual cloud dispersing by mid morning in the very warm temperatures. We headed out west and a couple of new Munros for Karen. Stob Coire Easain & Sob a' Choire Mheadhoin make a lovely ridge walk above Loch Treig. It must be nearly 20 years sine I last visited these mountains. It was quite quiet compared to stories I have heard from other Munro areas, we only saw around 20 folk all day. Another midgy morning and flies and deer keds and the odd cleg, but hey, it is like living in a different country just now!

These two Munros are commonly known as 'The Easians'. Being a ridge walk from East to West you have to return the same route, therefore going over Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin twice. We did notice some folk dropping down into the Northern coire between the two main summits. I think this is a longer, boggy and pathless way back to the carpark at Fersit?

After a hot day on the hill theres nothing like a wee swim in a nearby loch. The water was almost as warm as the air temperature (apparently). Another top day out in the hills. It was 27 C at 5pm on the way home. Thought it was warm.

SUNDAY 16TH AUGUST

A more relaxing day out today. The Monadhliath hills are some of the largest tracts of mountainous land in the country. There are just three sumits in the entire range that gain Munro status. Many of the hills are between 500 - 800m and remote.  You could easily spend weeks climbing all these! You would probably not meet another single hillwalker too. Just like us today really. Apart from the walk in along the glen we saw no one high up. What we did see was plenty of wonderful wildlife, mainly the birds. Golden Eagle, Buzzard, Periguine Falcon, Whaetear, Pipits and probably lots more birds of prey that were looking at us but we didn't see!

It was another hot day but unlike yesterday we didn't get midged, flied on or bitten by any nasties. A lovely gentle breeze to keep them at bay. 

MONDAY 17H AUGUST

The weather was again forecasted to be hot but a tad cooler than the weekend. Morning sun giving way to some thicker cloud and rain later. I set off for a short day onto Cairn Gorm in search of some wildlife. The Dotterell have now probably left the Scottish hills and are well on their way back to North Africa, their home. Of course we have lots of resident, permanent wildlife here in the Cairngorms. Up on the mountains and higher places are the Ptarmigan, Mountain Hare and Snow Bunting. Three of the animals I love to see and photograph. I set out from Coire Cas carpark in a cloud of midges. It wasn't until 800m that the breeze kicked in and they were gone. Thankfully. The temperature inversion was already breaking up by 10 am and beautiful to look at the clouds slowly melting away.

 I wanted some peaceful walking so quickly got away from the main paths and into pathless terrain, heading up towards Cairn Gorm summit. At 1100m I was so privilaged to come across a Ptarmgan Hen and her 3 youngsters. Brilliant. Hopefully this bodes well for the population up here.

Before walking up to the top of Cairn Gorm itself I had a look into Ciste Mhearad. This bowl just off the plateau is a well know snow hole location in winter. The snow here usually lingers on into the summer months. There is still a 30 - 40 metre length of snow and a small tunnel underneath.

On the top of Cairn Gorm it went dark with thick clouds everywhere. I got rained upon on the descent. It was a lovely feeling of being cooler, wet and a good Cairngorm breeze blowing. A very welcome change from the heat we've been experiencing. Some folk dressed in summer cotton clothing looked a tad wet and miserable on the way back down Windy Ridge. Worth checking out weather forecasts, it was spot on today.