A bird in the hand.....

Once we had settled into our Speyside home we could start on some expeditions. On the first day we kept it quite local, not really a problem with Nethy Bridge (Nethybridge?) being close to most of the areas of interest. We started off with a walk around the woods near Boat of Garten. 

It was still really cold but the misty, early morning light cast a glow over the snow-covered fields and trees dripping with frost.

The woods here are well marked and the paths weren't too bad to follow.

You did have to watch out for the ice-covered puddles. The patterns in them were beautiful but they could be lethal!

A circular walk took about 2 hours however we failed to find the capercaillies which we have seen here before. They are always very tricky to find despite their size with numbers still falling in most areas.

Our second stop was a very short distance away at Loch Garten. I've been visiting here since the mid 70's on holidays with my parents. Then it was the flagship reserve for watching the nesting ospreys which were mega rare. Unfortunately for the RSPB the nesting pole hasn't been as successful in the last few years, since their star female, EJ, passed away. Of course there is no chance of osprey at this time of year, especially as the loch was totally frozen over, so no fishing there.

There is still a well-stocked and well frequented feeding station in the forest just beyond the car park which can have red-squirrels and crested tits so we headed for this. 

The birds are really habituated to people here and within seconds of getting our bag of bird food out the coal tits were all over us!

I think the record was 5 on Judiths hand at one go with some even perching on her bobble hat!! The snowy trees made a lovely backdrop for them although by now my fingers were so cold that I could barely operate the camera buttons.

We decided that the risk of frostbite wasn't worth it so we retreated back to our cabin for some warming soup. Surprisingly we saw no squirrels (too cold and they were tucked up in their drey?) or crested tits.

After we had thawed out we drove around the local roads looking at the frosty views, which were spectacular. You could just drive along any road and see views to die for. 

The light was constantly changing. There was very little wind but small pockets of cloud or mist would drift along the valley creating backdrops for the wintery scenes.

Although we were cold, Buster the Highland cow didn't seemed at all fazed by it. As we drove further out the views got bigger as we got near Locindorb. The road down to it was impassable which as a a shame as the castle on a frozen loch would have been epic but not worth getting stuck for! The frozen trees by the road made up for it though.

I don't think I've seen such widespread frost and snow in the trees. Hardly surprising as this is December in the Cairngorms in the middle of a cold snap. I wonder if there locals ever get tired or these views. 

Unfortunately just as the sun was going down and I thought we would get a stunning sunset a bank of cloud rolled in and killed the light. The last embers still allowed a few more shots to be taken, especially of the built-landscape as well as the trees.

Not a day for spotting exotic wildlife but really interesting nonetheless. Living in the south you forget how hard but beautiful Winter can be.