Posted by Matt Tellum on January 16, 2007 at 3:47 PM
As this is my first posting on here please bear with me.
I will be visiting scotland at the end of feb and am staying in one of the highland lodges near kingussie.
I have read that there are pine martins that can be enticed to the lodges in the summer months with bait. But i rather doubt they will be around in feb. I was hoping someone could maybee give me a few tips on this.Maybee someone who has been there or someone who resides in the vicinity.
I am also planning to try the cairngorms .But never been there before im not familliar with any of it. Although i have read a couple of books that give some rough sugestions. I am also hoping to try the highland park and a couple of other places ive read about.
As im only there for a week i was hoping to keep my driving to a minimum so im trying to plan my visit.(weather permitting). Thanks for looking at my post and any help would be good.
Regards. Matt.
Posted by John Gardner on January 16, 2007 at 4:13 PM
Hi Matt,
Welcome to the forum - haven't seen you for a while. Can't help much with your request, years since I've been up that way, but do post some images on your return
One great place to try for finches,tits etc is the car park at the RSPB reserve at Loch Garten.
There are feeders hanging by the entrance gate which attract blue,great,coal,crested tit,chaffinch and also siskin.(you can stand a couple of metres away and the birds come in)
Many people hang feeders in the car park itself on more attractive perches which seems to work(always remember to remove any unused feeders especially the net variety)
The first car park on the right at loch morlich on the aviemore-cairngorm ski lift road is normally very good for hooded crow,many robins here which if there is snow on the ground can be very obliging and on my last visit had kingfisher using the snow covered loch side boulders to fish from, resulting in some very artistic images.
Any of the ski centres seem to attract snow buntings and its worth making sure you have seed with you at all times just in case.
Hope this is of some help
Good Luck
Craig
Craig Churchill Photography
Posted by Matt Tellum on January 16, 2007 at 5:33 PM
Thanks craig,thats the kind of info im looking for and as its only for the week im trying to get some kind of timetable sorted out.
Nice to hear from you also john. Thanks..
Posted by Tom Dodson on January 16, 2007 at 8:22 PM
If you want to PM or e mail me I might be able to help . I frequent that area a fair bit and don`t live that far from Aviemore.
Tom
Posted by Matt Tellum on January 17, 2007 at 1:29 PM
Thanks Tom. Sent you a msg.
Posted by Elliott Neep on January 18, 2007 at 4:29 AM
Hi Matt,
I think I've probably stayed at the same lodge. There are pine marten around and yes, the best time of year is the May, June, July with the long winter evenings. Having said that I first went there in early March and saw quite a few martens and photographed a couple. There are more lodges now and some of the fairytale forests with moss and lichen covering everything are slowly being cleared (See the pine marten shot in the mammals gallery on my website). This also makes it harder to create or find a suitable and photographing feeding station. Although, being nocturnal you can get away a completely dark background. The hardest part is the weather though and during these wintery months I often found myself holding on to the hide and strugging to dry everything out.
The pine martens are well used to visiting the cabins. You can entice them with honey sarnies or eggs. They do like chocolate, but please try to use this very sparingly as its not at all good for them. I also threw out small cubes of raw meet which went down well.
As the pine martens are really a night time subject (expect to be waiting til past midnight) you should definately look into other areas to see during the day: The coastal road from Glenelg to Corran is good for otters. The A87 from Invergarry to Shiel Bridge is good for buzzard, peregrin, and golden eagle (too view rather than photo). Loch Garry is beautiful and the small road that leads to Loch Quoich is stunning (one of my all time favs) with a good chance of seeing and photographing wild highland red deer... especially if the weather is bad with strong winds or lots of snow on the peaks.
Posted by Matt Tellum on January 18, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Just to say thanks to everyone for taking time to help me with this.
I can now sort out some kind of schedule for the week(weather permitting).
Hopefully i will have some images to share shortly.
Regards Matt
Discussion
7 repliesI will be visiting scotland at the end of feb and am staying in one of the highland lodges near kingussie.
I have read that there are pine martins that can be enticed to the lodges in the summer months with bait. But i rather doubt they will be around in feb. I was hoping someone could maybee give me a few tips on this.Maybee someone who has been there or someone who resides in the vicinity.
I am also planning to try the cairngorms .But never been there before im not familliar with any of it. Although i have read a couple of books that give some rough sugestions. I am also hoping to try the highland park and a couple of other places ive read about.
As im only there for a week i was hoping to keep my driving to a minimum so im trying to plan my visit.(weather permitting). Thanks for looking at my post and any help would be good.
Regards. Matt.
Welcome to the forum - haven't seen you for a while. Can't help much with your request, years since I've been up that way, but do post some images on your return
Kind regards
John
One great place to try for finches,tits etc is the car park at the RSPB reserve at Loch Garten.
There are feeders hanging by the entrance gate which attract blue,great,coal,crested tit,chaffinch and also siskin.(you can stand a couple of metres away and the birds come in)
Many people hang feeders in the car park itself on more attractive perches which seems to work(always remember to remove any unused feeders especially the net variety)
The first car park on the right at loch morlich on the aviemore-cairngorm ski lift road is normally very good for hooded crow,many robins here which if there is snow on the ground can be very obliging and on my last visit had kingfisher using the snow covered loch side boulders to fish from, resulting in some very artistic images.
Any of the ski centres seem to attract snow buntings and its worth making sure you have seed with you at all times just in case.
Hope this is of some help
Good Luck
Craig
Craig Churchill Photography
Nice to hear from you also john. Thanks..
Tom
I think I've probably stayed at the same lodge. There are pine marten around and yes, the best time of year is the May, June, July with the long winter evenings. Having said that I first went there in early March and saw quite a few martens and photographed a couple. There are more lodges now and some of the fairytale forests with moss and lichen covering everything are slowly being cleared (See the pine marten shot in the mammals gallery on my website). This also makes it harder to create or find a suitable and photographing feeding station. Although, being nocturnal you can get away a completely dark background. The hardest part is the weather though and during these wintery months I often found myself holding on to the hide and strugging to dry everything out.
The pine martens are well used to visiting the cabins. You can entice them with honey sarnies or eggs. They do like chocolate, but please try to use this very sparingly as its not at all good for them. I also threw out small cubes of raw meet which went down well.
As the pine martens are really a night time subject (expect to be waiting til past midnight) you should definately look into other areas to see during the day: The coastal road from Glenelg to Corran is good for otters. The A87 from Invergarry to Shiel Bridge is good for buzzard, peregrin, and golden eagle (too view rather than photo). Loch Garry is beautiful and the small road that leads to Loch Quoich is stunning (one of my all time favs) with a good chance of seeing and photographing wild highland red deer... especially if the weather is bad with strong winds or lots of snow on the peaks.
I can now sort out some kind of schedule for the week(weather permitting).
Hopefully i will have some images to share shortly.
Regards Matt