Up in The Highlands 3

Day four of our stay was spent at Marr Lodge after a lovely, scenic drive through the moors of Aberdeenshire.

We did a longish walk up the valley from there and back and at an early stage encountered some birds at the top of some young conifers.  Some were pipits and I thought I saw a couple of linnets but the one decent photo we got might be of a young stonechat.  It's a bit hard to be sure from the front on view:

Linnet or stonechat?

On the basis of the above I'd say stonechat but another poorer photo I got of a bird in the same flock looks more like a linnet.  After that there was a stretch of path where we had to avoid treading on small millipedes on the path, at least fifteen that I came across and a large moth caterpillar on a rock. Again I'm not sure which kind as fox moth and drinker moth caterpillars look quite similar.

Drinker or Fox Moth Caterpillar?

Millipede

Continuing the insect theme, we came across this moth more than once.  After consulting with an expert, I can establish that it was a common heath.

Common Heath

The colouring of this species can vary a bit, it seems.

Further up the path we were noticing more and more pipits.  I assumed they were all meadow pipits but was pleased to note that one was clearly a tree pipit as I hadn't seen the one the day before.

Tree Pipit

Meadow Pipit

On the way back we followed the river through the woods where there are some striking rocky waterfalls.  As well as more tree pipits, we were saying how surprising it was that we hadn't seen a dipper when suddenly one flew past us upriver.

The journey back the day after was a touch disappointing.  We visited a supposed red squirrel feeder station near Boat of Garten but saw no squirrels and one site that was more a tourist walk.  It was also advising the presence of red squirrels as did most other places visited but we saw none at all during the whole stay.  We drove on to the Lough of The Lowes site only to arrive 15 minutes before it closed, thus unfortunately depriving us of apparently the best view of an osprey nest in the UK.

The was a slight consolation at The Hermitage nearby where we saw the tallest pine trees in the country, numerous wagtails and more impressive waterfalls.  And on the way up we did catch up with a dipper, sitting completely still on a stone.  It was still there in exactly the same position when we passed by again an hour later.

Dipper