Friday, June 15, 2018

Spent the morning and early afternoon walking around the Etteridge Estate in Badenoch. It is a neat and carefully managed estate with the feel of highland Perthshire rather than the wilder Inverness-shire.
The car park is on the other side of the A9 on the Dalwhinnie Road. Here were two Spotted Flycatchers and the first of very many Chaffinces, Willow Warblers and Meadow Pipits. A Wheatear which seemed to be taking insects from the tarmac was a good sighting. Other birds there and on the short walk to the estate were Mistle Thrush, Siskin, Woodpigeon and a single Tree Pipit. Prominent plants were Bird's foot Trefoil and Dog Violet. Rabbits were plentiful but a Stoat dead in a trap was a reminder that not all mammals are welcome.
The rough grassland along the edge of the A9 held six Lapwings (possibly a family party) which took off as I appeared over the horizon and two pairs of Oystercatchers circling around and calling loudly as if they had young. Swallows, Woodpigeons and a rather lost-looking white dove were also present there.  
A mostly empty reservoir had Common Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, a single female Teal and six ducklings which could have been hers but equally could have belonged to Mallards. 
The grounds of the "big hoose" had at least two Spotted Flycatchers rasping, invisibly, from a large conifer. 
The tiny hamlet of Phones had Song Thrushes feeding on the lawns, Dunnock and Robin singing from the hedges and Swallows and House Martins feeding overhead. A short walk onto the grouse moor above Phones produced nothing other than more Meadow Pipits and two Buzzards. 
Walked back along the A9 using the cycle / foot path.The verges have been planted with native plants (which have been joined by escaped Lupins). Some of the species I recognised were Ragged Robin, Red Campion, Meadow Cranesbill, Dog Rose, Broom and Honeysuckle. 
The drive back to Dalwhinnie produced Dipper, Common Sandpiper and Pied Wagtail on the river and two alarm-calling Curlew (presumably with hidden young) on rough grassland. Marshy areas were choked with Cotton Grass.
Incidentally, the drive north produced some interesting birds including a Jay outside Dunblane, nesting House Martins at Crieff Golf Course and an Osprey hovering over the Tay at Haugh of Grandtully.