A fall of snow on Monday has transformed the Cairngorms into a winter wonderland! And the wildlife watching has been as good as ever.

Our guided walks this week have turned up the best sightings of the year of both Crested Tit and Scottish Crossbill - in fact the Cresties have been seen at a number of sites by guests; check out the very seasonal photo taken by 15 year old Charlie Rogers who stayed with us and caught this great image at Loch-an-Eilein!

In addition, guests are still seeing big herds of Red Deer, as well as seasonal favourites such as Whooper Swan and the first sightings of Snow Bunting at Cairngorm Mountain!

I doubt there's anywhere in Britain to rival the Cairngorms in the winter - to join in the fun why not have a look at our 'Winter Wildlife Watch' package as featured in November's Watcher available to download for free on our homepage...

Every species of bird that we see on our free Guided Walks in Anagach Wood are recorded in our sightings logbook so that our other guests may see them - but they are also sent to the BTO's Birdtrack webpage and contribute to their BirdAtlas.
We have just received the October 2008 newsletter and the main trends in Scotland are as follows:

1. The range of the Buzzard in east Scotland has expanded noticeably - a bird we see frequently on our walks.
2. Black Grouse numbers are believed to be benefitting from a range of conservation and habitat improvement measures.
3. Records of breeding Lapwing are down - yet this bird is a common breeder on the banks of the River Spey in the spring.

Notable sightings on our walks this week have included a flurry of Treecreeper sightings, Wigeon on the Spey and a wonderful, long view of a cracking male Scottish Crossbill!

Great news for wildlife watchers wanting a trip to Speyside - airline operator Flybe are having a massive Autumn flights sale to Inverness, operating from Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Kirkwall, Sumburgh, Stornoway, Manchester and Southampton. One way fares start from as little as £31.99 so there's no excuse for not coming and witnessing the wonderful winter wildlife of the Cairngorms!

To get a flavour of some of the scenes and sights on offer, take a look at the photos guest Pete Manley sent in from his stay with us last week of a Red Deer antler found at Findhorn Valley and a feeding Crested Tit amongst others.

As leaner times approach, hungry wildlife is more visible than usual - guest sightings this week include Pine Marten hunting in broad daylight at Loch Garten and Goshawk on the Moray firth coast!

Yet more guests photographs coming in today! Bill Saxton's show some of the fantastic fungi which exploded in Anagach Wood in September, providing a visual feast as well as a literal one for the Red Squirrels, whilst David Pelling's are the wonderful portraits of Red Grouse and Dipper. All will be entered into our competition - please keep sending them in, I never get tired of receiving them!

The 'Valley of the Raptors', Findhorn Valley, is simply a wildlife watchers' Paradise at the moment.

Yesterday, on a two hour walk there were the year's best sightings of Golden Eagle (immature + parent bird), seven parcels of rutting Red Deer, a pair of Ravens, Mountain Hare, two tribes of Wild Goats and leaping Atlantic Salmon. Phew!

As contributors to the BirdTrack website, the BWWC was very interested to receive a report about the patterns of migration seen by other observatories in the area.
The main trend thus far appears to be a large influx of Goldcrests into Central and Northern Scotland, something which we have certainly noticed on the guided walks in the past week. The smallest bird in Europe is actually relatively easy to spot, being one of the more vocal of the calling woodland birds in the Autumn Caledonian pine forest.
On the Spey, large parties of Wigeon and Goosander seem to have taken up residence, whilst the Redwings are just starting to re-appear.
The Aberdeenshire coast is also really hotting up - over 50,000 Pink-footed Geese have now arrived at RSPB Loch of Strathbeg which over the winter period hosts approximately 20% of the world's population!

Meanwhile the Red Deer rut is in full flow - guests who have joined in the Land Rover safari are reporting sightings of herds of over 150 Red Deer at a time, as rival stags try and round up their own 'parcel' of hinds. The diversity of other wildlife seen during the tour has been quite remarkable and includes Red and Black Grouse, Brown and Mountain Hare, and even the dreaded Mink!

A real change in the weather this last few days - the first snows topped Cairn Gorm, Braeriach and friends on Friday morning (3rd Oct). However, the colder weather has done nothing to put off the wildlife as the following photos taken by our guests Margaret and Paul Withers show!

In addition, our guided walk on Monday provided great views of a female Capercaillie - standing as still as a statue about 100 metres distant, but still looking bonny with her bright scarlet breast and mottled brown plumage!




Meanwhile, guests on the Red Deer Rut safari have reported seeing up to 300 Red Deer at a time, as well as other wildlife such as Red Grouse, Mountain Hare (see image!) and even the dreaded Mink!


Paul's images are being entered into our Guests Photography Competition for 2008. If you stayed with the BWWC in our first year and have some memorable images, then please do send them in - the winner will get a complimentary two-night stay at the Hotel for two people in 2009.

Well worth the effort, wouldn't you say?