Planning a hol in Scotland and like wildlife? 1 March 2004 at 12:52PM in Scotland 58 replies 6.3K views

Nile

Capercaillie Viewing

At the RSPB Osprey Centre, Loch Garten until the 22nd May.........daily at 05.30 until 08.00 hours, only £1 for RSPB members.

Mr & Mrs Nile were up at 4.50:eek: and braved the -3C temperature to do a Capercaillie watch this week. It was worth the effort, we saw two Capercaillies.:j The RSPB staff are wonderful, making sure that everyone gets a good view of the bird.

minime_2

Hi Nile-if you're in the area, there are black grouse to be seen at RSPB Corrimony reserve. Again its another early morning start, but worth it for the peace and quiet, and the chance to see these elusive birds displaying. Like to know where you managed to see the Scottish crossbill-we've been trying to see them for ages with no luck

Nile

minime wrote:

Hi Nile-if you're in the area, there are black grouse to be seen at RSPB Corrimony reserve. Again its another early morning start, but worth it for the peace and quiet, and the chance to see these elusive birds displaying. Like to know where you managed to see the Scottish crossbill-we've been trying to see them for ages with no luck

I know just how you feel minime, we'd been looking for years before we saw crossibills. As my earlier posting on this thread mentions, we managed to see crossbills for the first time in 2004. We went on a wildlife safari and Steve the wildlife expert showed us where to look.

We went back to the Abernethy Forest in April 2005 and found them ourselves. You need a bit of luck and a bit of field craft. If you're prepared to be patient and stand quietly.......your luck should pay off.

What you should be looking for is birds flying into the very top of a pine tree. What you should be listening for is pine cones dropping to the floor. Once you've detected both, search that tree with your binoculars and you should find a crossbill.

We watched a male (red) crossbill for an hour. It was pulling off a pine cone, then pulling out and eating the seeds........then dropped the cone to the floor.

Hope that helps your search...........they really do exist.

minime_2

Thanks for the info Nile. Sorry it's taken so long-just been sooooo busy!! Off to Mull soon-sure we will se lots of wildlife there. Lucky enought to have a relationship with a local landowner-cant wait to get there to see the sea eagles. May have some info for you after my visit

jenza8

It's a long time since anyone has posted on here but I'm going up to Scotland in just over a week and can't wait to go investigate the dolphins. Does anyone know if there is anything else around there at the moment to see?
Thank you.

amanda40

I normally see them at Rosemarkie direction on the balck isle - not sure what time of year right enough - think it was around spring but couldn't be sure.

amanda40

Sorry misread your post - depends where you are going - seen puffins i July in Shetland last year - loads of them!

Oscar

This thread is great I didnt appreciate that there was such a thread but will keep it in mind for the next time we trek up north!

Vital_Spark_2

For those visitors to Scotland not afraid of a boat trip, you can't beat the Orkney islands for wild life some, such as the Orkney vole, seen nowhere else on Earth.

You also get wonderful archaeology thrown in for the one fare over. Of course for non-boaters you can always take the plane, if your bank balance is sufficiently comfortable to take the scare.

Nile

I've bumped this thread to the first page, to help JanetG plan her trip to Aviemore and Inverness........and see dolphins.;)