April 2011 was almost entirely dry, warm & sunny, with just a few overnight frosts to contend with - making it an absolutely fantastic month for wildlife-watching. Although the majority of our winter visitor birds have now departed, with summer migrant birds flooding in, our bird day-lists shot up into the 50's , with mammal day-lists also growing, to an average of 8, with one memorable day giving us an outstanding 11 different species!

Wildlife highlights included:

Ospreys returning to their nest sites within the Spey Valley. These magnificent raptors provided us with super views of them nest building, catching fish, delivering fish, & even mating - great stuff! (see pic)

Capercaillie were seen regularly (especially from mid-month) - mainly at the RSPB's excellent early-morning 'Caper-watch' facility, at their beautiful Abernethy Forest Reserve (Open April1 - May 20).

The local Black Grouse performed superbly at traditional 'lek' sites at dawn - my safari clients marvelling at the glossy black cock birds aggressive, strutting, jumping displays, all accompanied by their loud bubbling, hissing calls - one of British nature's must-see spectacles - magic!

Our dawn starts also gave us sightings of two very rare & very sought-after mammals - namely an Otter, seen fishing in the Spey, &..... (for only the 3rd time on one of my safaris), a Scottish Wildcat, seen hunting small mammals at a remote moorland location, it's large size, stocky build, broad head, & thick stripy tail hinting at a truly wild lineage.......

Other 'local speciality' birds seen regularly, and looking splendid in their truly beautiful summer plumage on secluded local lochans, were Slavonian Grebe, Red-Throated Diver & Black-Throated Diver - these three 'super-models' of the bird world often featured highly in our 'bird of the day' awards at the end of each safari.

Hen Harrier was a welcome (& sadly rare) addition to our sightings list , with several views on local heather moorland - lets hope they attempt (& are allowed!!) to breed, as they are very attractive , charismatic birds, especially the cock bird, with his grey-white plumage & black wingtips - fingers crossed!

Moorland also gave us regular excellent views of Red Grouse, the cock birds still very aggressive & showy, with their red eye combs seemingly almost glowing!

A 2011 record mammal 'day-list' of 11 different species - Hedgehog, Rabbit, Brown Hare, Red Deer, Roe Deer, Reindeer, Bank Vole, Mountain Goat, Mountain Hare, Stoat, & Red Squirrel.

Kingfisher was a good local 'tick' , streaking low across a local loch - they are not a common bird in these parts.

Incoming migrant birds included: Wheatear, Willow Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin, & Redstart.

Crossbills were seen sporadically, with mainly 'fly-over' sightings, and just a couple of 'thru the scope' opportunities.

Golden eagles were also seen sporadically - they are actually harder to see in spring/summer than in winter, as they have so many more hours of available feeding time, so you need a little luck.....

Overall, I would say that April (especially the 2nd half) is one of the best months for wildlife-watching in this area - it's probably my favourite month of the whole year.