| Leaders | Sally Nowell and Kate Mennie |
| Day 1 | Arrive in the Cairngorms.
5 nights at the Garth Hotel, Grantown-on-Spey |
| Days 2-5 | Wildlife and birdwatching exploration throughout Speyside including Abernethy Forest, Dava Moor, the Moray Firth coast and the Cairngorms. |
| Day 6 | Travel north-west to Sutherland, via Gruinard Bay.
4 nights at The Rhiconich Hotel. |
| Days 7-9 | Exploration of the north-west corner of Scotland including Handa. |
| Days 10-11 | Travel back to the Cairngorms.
1 night at the Garth Hotel, Grantown-on-Spey |
| Weather | Mixture of sun and showers (10°-25°C) although it can be cooler in the mountains and on the boat crossing. |
| Walking | Most walks are 1-2 miles on wide,
sandy tracks, although there is the
possibility of a forest walk of up
to 4 miles
We may take a steep uneven walk into
the Cairngorms. Sturdy boots and
walking poles are essential. Low-level
unguided alternatives are available.
Our day on the remote Island of Handa
has limited toilet facilities and will
include a 3.5km walk round the island
on boardwalk. |
| Boats | Our boat trip to Handa Island is over sheltered waters and lasts 15 mins. |
| Meals | All included from dinner on Day 1
to breakfast on Day 11. |
| Insects | Biting insects may be encountered, so bring repellant. |
| Accom | Double, twin and single
rooms all ensuite. |
| Group | 12 |
To Handa Island and back - Speyside’s speciality birds and mammals, plus spectacular seabird colonies in the north-west, all in Scotland’s most incredible land and seascapes.48uep6bbph|00000E4E|Spey_BESQL3|HolidayTypes|Subheading 48uep6bbphidval|SUTHANDSPEY
| * Fabulous long summer days when the sun barely sets
|
| * Our favourite Speyside days, including the Scottish specialities
|
| * Four days of stunning Sutherland birds and landscapes
|
| * A full day on spectacular Handa Island in north-west Sutherland
|
| * Durness and Balnakeil Bay on the northern edge of Scotland
|
| * White-tailed Eagle, Greenshank and Rock Dove
|
| * Early morning Black Grouse and cackling Red Grouse over the moors
|
| Day 1 | We meet at our hotel in Grantown-on-Spey in time for dinner and a chance to chat about the coming days.
|
| Days 2-5 | We’ll start with a visit to a local glen or
to the beautiful Caledonian Pine Forest.
Here, Crested Tit and crossbill are amongst the
breeding birds and Red Squirrels scamper. We shall
go out early one morning for a chance of lekking
Black Grouse.
Nearby lochans hold beautiful Slavonian Grebes and we’ll visit nesting Osprey. We have our own places to find camouflaged Mountain Hare, with huge herds of Red Deer watching us from the skyline. Golden Eagle and Raven soar above the mountain slopes and Peregrine hunt in the valley, where Oystercatcher and Curlew have chicks and Common Gull nest on the shingle.
We’ll also venture into the foothills of the
Cairngorms in search of Ptarmigan and Dotterel if
we’re lucky. The plaintive notes of Ring Ouzel may
also be heard and seen.
One evening we’ll visit our hide for Pine Marten and Badger and the chance of a Tawny Owl or a roding Woodcock.
The meandering River Spey holds Dipper, Grey Wagtail and noisy Common Sandpiper, while waders display over marshes around Lochindorb and Insh. Goldeneye have delightful little black and white ducklings and ‘proper’ Scottish Greylag Geese are nesting. Red Kite circle above the rolling farmland of the Moray Firth, whilst tidal bays are busy with Eider and noisy Arctic, Common and Sandwich Tern. There may even be the odd
non-breeding Scoter or Long-tailed Duck.
On the wild moors of Dava and the Monadhliaths, Merlin and Peregrine can be found and these are places where the plaintive notes of Ring Ouzel, the cackling of Red Grouse and the mournful piping of Golden Plover can be heard.
|
| Days 6-9 | We journey past deep-indented sealochs
and dramatic peaks of Wester Ross
on our way to Sutherland, where we’ll search for
White-tailed Eagle and perhaps see a Black-throated
Diver in stunning breeding plumage.
There is always a chance of Otter here and perhaps Golden Eagle as well, before we head for our hotel farther north at Rhiconich. This is wild country, feeling as spectacular and ‘foreign’ as it’s possible to get in this land. It is open, ice-scoured and wild - the soaring mountains of Suilven and Stac Pollaidh standing in splendid isolation, interspersed with numerous peaty lochs and small patches of native broadleaves, while the coastline is dotted with sandy bays and skerries - for many this is the most beautiful part of Britain.
The most renowned birding location here must be Handa Island and taking a small boat to get there, we’ll spend a full day enjoying the circular route around the island. Thousands of Guillemot, Razorbill, Fulmar and Kittiwake nest on the towering cliffs of the stack on the north coast, with smaller numbers of Puffin right on top, whilst Shag hiss from hidden nests.
Black Guillemots breed in the boulders at the base of the cliffs and we often get close views from the boat. The colonies are patrolled by Great and Arctic Skuas looking for a meal. Both nest on the
island, allowing close-up views of these spectacular birds and Great Skuas often gather to bathe in lochans where Red-throated Diver may be nesting.
Summering Great Northern Divers are frequently found on the sweeping azure seas of Balnakeil Bay, at the edge of Scotland, next stop the Arctic! This northern coast is a beautiful mix of rocky coastline and gorgeous white beaches sweeping up to grassy slopes and moorland dotted with orchids. We may find tiny Scottish Primroses in short turf on the cliff-tops - especially at Strathy Point where viewing out to sea can be spectacular! Gannets dive offshore, while Kittiwakes, auks and Fulmars are constantly streaming by. This is a premier sight to scan for dolphins, or even whales if it is calm.
There are more Puffin colonies along the north coast, plus wild Rock Doves and Twite and just inland are lochs where Black-throated Divers breed. Merlin and Greenshank also breed on these remote moorlands. At nearby Durness, Corncrakes can sometimes be heard, though they are difficult to see in the tall vegetation and we’ll look out for Golden Eagle as we journey around Loch Eriboll and Loch Assynt - truly wonderful places.
|
| Day 10-11 | On our last afternoon we enjoy more spectacular scenery as we take an inland route, birdwatching as we go, back to Speyside and our hotel for the last night. After breakfast the next morning we make our farewells.
|
Just some of what we hope to see..
| Great Northern Diver | Black-throated Diver | Razorbill |
| Red-throated Diver | crossbill | Fulmar |
| Black-throated Diver | Crested Tit | Arctic Skua |
| Capercaillie | Snow Bunting | Great Skua |
| Black Grouse | Osprey | Pine Marten |
| Slavonian Grebe | Red Kite | Badger |
| Golden Eagle | Guillemot | Red Deer |
| White-tailed Sea Eagle | Merlin | Otter |
| Puffin | Peregrine | Whales and dolphins |
"Lunch time view of fishing Osprey - really close! Excellent views of Pied Flycatcher visiting nest box near Aviemore. Time to observe close views of Fulmars gliding near cliffs on Handa, such mastery of the air. Iain's sense of humour at Tigh na Sgiath and the many appearances of the Queen!"
Lynda Niccolls
|
"As already mentioned above, we really enjoyed both of the hotels and the surrounding areas. The creek along that Old Laundry path behind Tigh naSgiath was gorgeous and we were thrilled to see a Dipper the very first evening in that creek! (and we are very grateful to Sally for mentioning this path to us the first day, otherwise we would not have known about it). And the walks around the Inchard Loch both at sunrise and sunset were beyond spectacular with the light and the views and the incredible looks at birds and the Ottersin the loch as well as the deer nestling in the heather at sunset. We enjoyed the companionship and knowledge of our fellow travellers and appreciated what a really nice group of interesting people were on the trip. All of them had travelled with Speyside before, and mentioned that they had always found the other Speyside guests enjoyable to be with (this was in response to a few horror stories we shared from trips we had taken in the past). Handa Island was a truly spectacular day for both of us - we loved the walk around the island, the scenery, the history, and of course, the amazing vistas of seabirds - a lifetime memory. The scenery in the Highlands was breathtaking and we spent those days in constant amazement, with each turn of the road yielding yet another spectacular view. The evening in the wildlife hide was very fun - too bad we did not see the Pine Martens but the Badgers were a treat, and that garden was very very special. I would not have minded being able to spend a bit more time in that garden! The Craigellachie NNR was very very beautiful and seeing the Pied Flycatchers at their nest - wow! What a great find by Kate (whose talent for spottingthings is amazing!). It would have been nice, if possible, to hike a bit more in that park - it is a lovely lovely spot. Loch Garten was especially beautiful, but so many of the lochs were really gorgeous, its hard to pick one. It was a great trip! Thank you Sally and Kate and everyone at Speyside Wildlife for taking such good care of us!"
Perri Strawn and Bill Kunze
|
"I managed to see a couple of species which I rarely see (Small White Orchid, Linnet, Twite) and much better views of Redpoll. Overall a really excellent holiday helped by splendid weather and a couple of excellent hotels"
John Duerden
|
"Osprey diving into loch catching fish and eating it on the loch shore whilst we were having lunch. A full day on Handa Island. Scenery, especially in Sutherland was breathtaking. Weather was superb"
Lyn and Dave Maslin
|
"Watching an Otter eating a salmon from our bedroom window in Sutherland. Having such good views of White-tailed Eagles; Seeing divers with their young; Having such a lovely turret bedroom in Speyside"
Margaret Glasgow
|
"Watching two W.T.Eagles over hills behind Gruinard Bay; Seeing a pair of Black-throated Divers with chick on a lochan in the middle of Sutherland moorland; Glimpsing a Golden Eagle between trees whilst being driven over the Farr Road; Eventually locating a Crested Tit in woods near Loch Garten (thanks to Kate's expertise!); Enjoying the amazing spectacle of an Otter feasting on his salmon supper by the side of the river outside our bedroom window (for over 15mins!)....fantastic!"
Eileen Knight
|
"Cairngorm Mountain experience was indeed a highlight, with Dotterel dotted about, Snow Bunting sitting and chirping on rocks and fences, Ptarmigan (male & female) scurried out from under a boulder beneath the feet of two members of our group, much to their and everyone else in the groups' delight - even though some of us had climbed down over the rocks and were in a precarious position looking at the Snow Bunting at the time, so had to swing round 190 degrees to see the Ptarmigan - a difficult choice between the two (Snow Bunting or Ptarmigan). Before we returned a Mountain Hare bounded passed us on the slopes.
Handa: wonderful to see the Great and Arctic Skuas flying about all over the place and the sea cliffs with Fulmars enjoying themselves on the thermals, raising so high up the cliffs we could see them so distinctly even without binoculars (but of course binoculars are better).
Balnakeil Beach and sand dune walk out as far as Faraidh Head was indeed awe inspiring - seeing baby Sand Martins in their natural habitat hesitantly attempting to fledge -flying a very short distance only to return and walk up the sand cliff towards the nest again.
Soaring Golden Eagles, Osprey family on nest (male, female and chicks), short-eared owl ..... etc. etc."
Jan Binnie
|
"Just one of many..
We began to walk through the sand dunes beside the beach at Balnakiel to reach a higher view point and eat our lunch. As we rounded a corner in the sunshine, we found ourselves opposite a Sand Martin colony with at least 40+ burrows in the sand bank. As we watched, Sand Martins were flying in and out of their burrows with food for chicks - some chicks waiting together at the entrance, others deep inside, and a few chicks were perched on the ledge about to fledge. The activity continued...and continued. A "once in a life time" experience."
Margaret Dixey
|
"The trip up Cairngorm was magic with first sightings of Dotterel and a Snow Bunting that posed for photographs at 20 metres. Handa Island too was spectacular, even more so as the strong winds had threatened to make the boat trip impossible. As with the trip up Cairngorm, Simon re-arranged the schedule to ensure we got there."
Bill Gill
|
"Best view of a Golden Eagle ever, more Arctic Skuas than we are ever likely to see again, all 3 divers two days running. Not just seeing these birds but getting very close views of them. To top it all the wonderful scenery of Sutherland."
Melanie & John Parker
|
"Golden Eagles; 4 Black-throat and 1 Great Northern Diver all together."
Margaret Murphy
|
This magnificent Country House located at Skye of Curr near Grantown-on-Spey was once the home of the Lipton Tea family. Built in 1902, this elegant mansion is set in its own fabulous grounds in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. Built originally for the Mackenzie family, founders of the MacKinnon MacKenzie shipping line, the house was later sold to the Lipton Tea and grocery family and then to Major Scott and Lady Scott Hartley, famous for their jam making and grocery business.
Tigh na Sgiath is owned and personally run by Iain and Elaine MacDonald-Coulter, who after many years in the hotel business on the West Coast of Scotland, have made Tigh na Sgiath Country House their home
The eight bedrooms at Tigh na Sgiath Country House are all individual in character, size and design. Each has ensuite or private facilites.
|
Surrounded by the mighty peaks of Foinhaven and Arkle, and facing beautiful Loch Inchard, Rhiconich Hotel is a great base for wildlife watching. The River Rhiconich flows down from between Arkle and Foinaven to meet the sea at Loch Inchard where Otters and Grey Herons make their homes along the rocky banks. There is rarely a moment through the day when these elegant birds cannot be picked out, although well camouflaged against the rocky shoreline. There are also Goosanders, Mergansers, Eiders and other species nesting in this immediate area.
With ten comfortable en-suite rooms, each with tea and coffee making facilities, hairdryer and television, the hotel offers a comfortable base during our time in Sutherland. It has a reputation for good food – particularly locally caught fish and seafood - and a choice of two bars.
|
|