Decided to take the angler's path back from Boat of Garten to Aviemore. No birds were on the Spey at the road bridge but a Dipper was on a stone about 200 metres upstream. Two Grey Wagtails were a little further along with another just beyond Wester Dalvoult.  The cattle fields opposite Knock of Kincardine held a flock of 15-20 Mistle Thrushes which were feeding in a damp, scrubby area. In the next field, a passerine flock contained at least ten Chaffinches and five Goldfinches. The flock might have held other species but the cows at that point were showing too much interest in me so I had to move on.
Other birds in that area included Starlings. Meadow Pipit and Buzzard. On the river, a female Goosander was escorting 10 juveniles (possibly a combined brood as the birds seemed to be of two different sizes). A single Mallard was near here but surprisingly, no Goldeneye were seen along the entire stretch of the Spey covered.
The river was perfectly still in front of the angler's hut at Kinchurdy. A lone figure was fishing midstream while his colleagues were watching from the shore. A few Swallows were still around Kinchurdy Farm and nearby Loch Dallas held four Little Grebes and seven Mallard. Two Buzzards were calling in the area and a noisy party of 14 Greylag Geese arrived from the north east and wheeled around nervously before dropping down near Lochan Dubh.
The walk back along the cycle track (Route 7) started with another large tit flock. This one also contained close to 50 birds but seemed to consist mainly of juvenile Coal and Great Tits and a few Willow Warblers. A Bullfinch was calling nearby. Out on the Heather moor (beautifully purple), two Meadow Pipits were the only sign of life apart from a few Coal Tits in the isolated pine trees.
The remainder of the walk back into Aviemore had to take place at a bit of a run to catch the train. Amazing how ten hours can fly in.

Today, three skeins of Greylag Geese (15, 3 and 20) were flighting up from the Clyde between Erskine and Langbank first thing. At lunchtime, the newly hatched Coot brood (3 chicks) were hiding in the sedges.