Today was spent exploring some sites in Badenoch and Strathspey. Our first stop, Glen Banchor, produced plenty of Meadow Pipits plus Pied Wagtail, Redpoll, Swallow, Sand Martin, Buzzard and Red-legged Partridge. Lepidoptera included Chimney Sweeper moth and Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (the latter nectaring on Thyme). Interesting plants were Bog Asphodel, Harebell and Mountain Pansy all in flower. A Common Lizard basking on the cement upright of a roadside bench was the highlight. The Insh Marshes near Ruthven Barracks were very quiet with almost no birds present. At least some of those missing from that site must have been at Loch Insh where fifteen Canada Geese and 105 Mallards were among the waterbirds present. Highlights on the journies up and down consisted of an Osprey hunting over the Spey at Pitlochry and twenty Fallow Deer near Dunkeld.Also, 20 Greylags and a Swift were over the A9 south of Cuaich and a profusion of Biting Stonecrop was covering the rocks in a layby south of the Drumochter Pass.