More pictures are coming in from guests who stayed with us during Winter Wildlife Watch week.

A snow-clad Glenlivet Estate was the scene for the 'Mountain Hare Land Rover Safari', and the walk over the moors to get closer to the hares in the prime of their white winter finery proved worth it - as guest Bob Moore's fantastic photo of a hare in and amongst the juniper ably proves.

On the road to Farr there was also a mystery bird sighting - initially the group from Lincolnshire were convinced that they had encountered a juvenille White-tailed Sea Eagle on passage but having downloaded their images they are not so sure. The area is well-known as prime Golden Eagle territory and displaying eagles were seen there all week so it's possible they encountered a 'goldie'.

Having looked at the image in close up I can see the problem - the markings are unclear, so can anybody spot a conclusive i.d. feature?

Over the last ten days our Winter Wildlife Watch package has produced an amazing array of wildlife encounters.

Amongst the species which have been routinely recorded on our guests sightings board are displaying Golden Eagle, Scottish Crossbill, Hen Harrier, Red Squirrel, Mountain Hare, a Stoat in ermine, Dipper, Long-tailed Duck, Red Deer, Wild Goats, Goosander and Black Grouse.

Heather and guest in the snow hole!

Leaving the snow-hole and Ptarmigan footprints at nearly

4000 feet!

Special sightings included a female Capercaillie sighted near to the RSPB's Forest Lodge, a Marsh Harrier at RSPB Insh Marshes and a juvenille White-tailed Sea Eagle seen near to Findhorn Valley.

Arguably the biggest 'tick' though has to go to the solitary Ptarmigan seen on both walks with Cairngorm Mountain Ranger, Heather Morning, at nearly 4000 feet! Heather looked after our guests who enjoyed favourable weather conditions (by the standards of Cairn Gorm in February!) to have a once-in-a-lifetime walk in one of the most extreme habitats in the U.K., as our guest Julie Rogers' photos prove.

A big thanks to Heather, Head Ranger Nic Bullivant and Red Squirrel Conservation Officer Juliet Robinson whose knowledge and experience of the area's wildlife all enormously added to a week which guests will not forget in a hurry.

We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

Amidst all the snow and ice our winter wildlife watching week has got off to the best possible start - despite it only being Day Two, guests have already seen an amazing array of the best of Cairngorms wildlife with just a few of the highlights being...

5 displaying Golden Eagles at Findhorn Valley...sea ducks and waterfowl galore on the Moray Firth and the River Spey from Eider, Wigeon and Long-tailed Duck to Mergansers, Goosanders and Slavonian Grebes...and of course Red Squirrels and Red Deer everywhere.

Excitement is building for our high altitude walk at Cairn Gorm on Tuesday and fingers are crossed for Pine Marten appearances at the evening hide later on this week!

Winter has its distinct advantages: even the hardiest species are sometimes forced down from the mountain tops in search of food and shelter, and the Highlands of Scotland can seem like the tropics when you spend the rest of the year in the Arctic Circle.

As such we have a collection of photos which form a winter wildlife watcher's salute to old Jack Frost...Snow Bunting at Cairn Gorm, Greylag Geese at Moy, Red Deer on Alvie Estate, oh yes, and our faithful band of Waxwings in Grantown-on-Spey itself...

We can't wait to help our guests enjoy the best of Speyside's wildlife during our Winter Wildlife Watch week and are keeping our fingers crossed that the Waxwings will still be around...one thing is for certain, if they are you'll be the first to know!

Given the heavy snow most of Britain has been experiencing in the last week, I wonder what the weather is like in Siberian Russia?

Clearly, sunny Grantown-on-Spey seems positively balmy in comparison, and over the past few days we've been privileged to experience an influx of berry-hunting visitors.

Flocks of Waxwings have been delighting birdwatchers in the area with their delightful crests and bright yellow rumps and our local contact Frank McKay managed to capture this stunning image of one of these northern invaders.

The moors are well worth exploring for bands of Ravens at play and you might well find yourself treated to the aerial acrobatics of this Buzzard-sized member of the crow family as it practises a spot of dive bombing on an unwitting companion.

It is also one of the easiest times of year to see large herds of Red Deer on low ground, and in particular the fully antlered stags who in a matter of a few weeks' time won't be looking quite so regal after casting their antlers.

Our winter wildlife watching week is almost upon us, and during my two weeks away you'll be pleased to learn that I've been busy gathering the gen from some of the Cairngorms' best wildlife sites to pass onto all of our guests and blog followers.

As expected, on the moors the Red Grouse are already starting to pair up and Glen Kyllachy is the best place to see the cocks loudly proclaiming their territory over the ling as they show off their beautiful breeding plumage to admiring hens.

Meanwhile, in the glens I was delighted to be reunited with a familiar face from the summer down at stunning Findhorn Valley - I had first noticed this lone Wild Goat in July, unusually seperating himself from the rest of the tribe and there he was again, seven months later, in his usual spot on the boulder-strewn slopes. He was quite happily munching away at the rough grasses and seemingly unperturbed by my best rock-climbing efforts, secure in the knowledge that at any time of his choosing he could disappear into the mountain faster than I could say "Cheese".

On the coast there are rafts of geese and sea ducks such as Eider and Wigeon everywhere and I was lucky to get a particularly close encounter with a Common Seal at Lossiemouth.

Finally, the Cairngorm Mountains themselves are offering the patient wildlife watcher a rare opportunity to witness small parties of beautiful Snow Buntings pecking around the ski areas for scraps of leftovers, before they resume their high altitiude lifestyle in the coming Spring...

But if you want to join in the fun and book onto our winter wildlife watch package you'll have to be quick - we only have TWO places left!