Just a quick Blog entry today, with three memorable images of wildlife taken in and around the Cairngorms over the past few days...

1. An Osprey at dawn at RSPB Loch Garten from Craig Westlake of Deeside Nature Activities.

2. A Roe Buck misbehaving directly behind the Crown Estate office in Tomintoul.

and perhaps best of all...

3. The rogue White-tailed Sea Eagle over Glenlivet Estate, which amazed a group led by David Newland of Glenlivet Wildlife. Apparently, the bird circled overhead a little too long for comfort, before finally deciding to look elsewhere for lunch.

Just a quick entry today. I received a great image taken by Craig Westlake, wildlife guide from Deeside Nature Activities, which Craig took last night as he was driving over the moorland road from Tomintoul to Grantown-on-Spey on his way to do a talk at the Hotel.

The Common Gull looks slightly concerned (and a little overshadowed) by it's larger companion, none other than a White-tailed Sea Eagle! A great sighting Craig - I hope the tours you do with BWWC guests in the coming year continue to turn up such rare encounters!

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!