22/03/20205 Undisclosed Location, Scotland

Capercaillie: First of all let me make it clear, this bird was observed with the upmost respect, off a unrestricted public path that was well used by dog walkers and cyclists during the time we were observing the bird. Also this bird was photographed outside of the the Lek It Be guidance, not to visit capercaillie lek sites during April and May when the birds are lekking (gathered to mate). From the April the 1st to 31st of August, when capercaillie are breeding and raising their young, birders and photographers should avoid capercaillie areas if they can. 

I think it's important to state this, not only to cover my own back in a way from any naysayers and pot stirrers, you know the keyboard worries who don't engage positively in any post, but seek to undermine. But also, to shine a light on the good work that the Lek it Be campaign are doing and to reduce any potential impact on capercaillie, by spelling out their guidance.

These impressive beasts are the largest member of the game bird family and resides exclusively in the pinewoods of Scotland. Male cappers are mainly grey in colour and have reddish-brown wings with a white patch on the shoulder. The head, neck and breast are tinged with blue, and the eye is fringed  by a ring of red skin. Males also have a “beard,” that is most noticeable during courtship displays, and a broad fanned tail. 

This bird was aggressively pumped up with testosterone and with it's wings pointed down, tail flared and beard bristling it was busily charging at dog walkers, cyclists and even a jogger!

We kept our distance, and respected the birds boundaries backing off when it approached.

One thing that struck me was how respectful the other passersby were acting, with most of the dog walkers stopping and moving through the woods the avoid part of the public track the bird was occupying or dismounting and walking past the bird more gracefully and light footed then just speeding by. 

Capercaillie make full use of a varied pinewood habitat. In winter the birds need pine trees for food and in summer good ground cover of shrubby vegetation for nesting and chick rearing. This reliance on, and exacting needs of, a varied but specific habitat led to their extinction in the past when the forests were destroyed by people. Though hunting played a part, it probably only accelerated the inevitable process. 

Today, as detailed above, capercaillie are under threat from various factors but not least because of reduction of their favoured habitat. Research has shown that capercaillie densities are highest in semi-natural woodland. Despite this, 60% of the population are found in plantation type woodlands, because there is not enough undisturbed native pinewood habitat left to support a majority of the capercaillie numbers.

All capercaillie in Scotland are from Swedish stock, as the species became extinct in Scotland in 1785. The population has halved in recent years and a variety of threats including habitat loss and fragmentation, birds flying into deer fencing and chick mortality due to wet and cool weather now face this species.

As part of the Lek It be guidance I will not be including any information about specific site locations in the post and I will not be or sharing any information regarding the birds location.

25/03/2024 Aviemore, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland

Capercaillie: The always excellent Damien Young is due to tie the knot in April, so we organised a stag weekend in Aviemore with the hopes of seeing some of the Scottish specialties. With a few notable absences the stag party consisted of Toby Young, Kristian Wade, Patrick Earth and of course the stag.

We got lucky with this bird as walking through some undisclosed Caledonian forest hoping to see our first crested tit and walked right up to this resting bird off the public footpath. Astonishing crazy scenes! 

Crested Tit: Although other types of crested tit occur in Europe, Scotland has a special subspecies of crested tit called Lophophanes cristatus scoticus. 

They are mainly found in large areas of ancient pine forest and newer Scots pine forestry plantations across central and eastern Highlands, from the River Spey catchment to the Dornoch Firth.

The white cheeks and lack of wing barring identify it at this range. More closely it has a very distinctive black and white crest, which it can fan and raise upwards. 

We checked the feeders at RSPB Loch Garten in the rain while standing under the small shelter beside the visitor centre with was closed. We gave it enough time before the rain settled down but only got a skip full of coal tit and a few chaffinches before moving on. Our next stop was Nether Bridge, a Caledonian pine forest just north of Loch Garten. here we had two cresties attending the bird feeders. 

Snow Bunting: Our next target bird was the ptarmigan a bird most of the lads needed so I took them to Cairngorm Mountain where I saw them back in 2016. Apart from a large herd of reindeer all we couldn't find any ptarmigan, so we had to entertain ourselves with a large flock of 36 beautiful white snow buntings that are resident around the ski centre. 

Ptarmigan: We had to travel over to Glen Shee and scale the munro mountain's Cairnwell Pass at the head of Glen Shee. This was a tough, hard hike to the top and not for the weaker legged. We scanned them scree and searched all over before stumbling across a couple of birders viewing the northern slopes where two birds hundred down.

Their unusual name comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning ‘croak’, in reference to their grumbling, croaking-like call.

Ptarmigan usually live above the treeline, in the hills and mountains. In Scotland, they usually occur above about 800m, moving up and down the mountain in response to weather and food availability. 

The pair had seemed to have lost their pure white plumage that they had only thee weeks ago or so and were now perfectly camauglaged against the patches of snow amounts the loose boulders and rocks.  The walk down is always good for the soul. 

Golden Eagle: On the way over to Glen Shee we kept out eyes open for any large reports, we had dozens of buzzard and a few red kite  until we got to the upland moors near the A93 Military Old Road, here we spotted two golden eagle. A juvenile and an adult, of which had. statute tracker on its back. 

There are no particular ‘hotspots’ for seeing eagles and their eyries are a closely guarded secret, but if you spend time in the uplands and keep looking up you may be lucky enough to see this great bird soaring around ridgelines, catching the thermals and looking for prey.

Ptarmigan: Saturday evening I booked us all in to the Speyside wildlife pine marten hide on the Rothiemurchus estate near Aviemore. Their hide regularly gets badger and pine marten can also be seen. 

Badger: Each evening wildlife watching experience lasts approximately two and a half to three hours. Our guide for the evening was chap called Harris, an extremely pleasant fellow with a. wealth of knowledge.

Pine Marten: Harris even took his time to show us a resident Scottish wildcat that they have currently in the grounds close to the hide, unfortunately it evaded us on this night, but Harris did get us two plant ticks, including holly fern and twinflower.  The pine marten were the highlight of the evening but the new hide is poor for photography and not great for phones either, both these images where taken with my iPhone. 

Red Kite: This was a top weekend spent with some of the best humans I know. Here's to Damian and Helen and to their big day in April. 

For the pine Martin hide check this link below out. www.speysidewildlife.co.uk