Well, strictly speaking, not day 1 as we travelled half-way to Moffat on Saturday 17th March and then continued our journey on Sunday 18th March. Weather not good - it was the weekend of the mini 'Beast-from-the-East' so we hit some snow showers on the way but nothing to get worried about and it impoved the further north we travelled. Our destination was Grantown-on-Spey for the week, staying at the well-known Grant Arms Hotel - well known to the birding fraternity that is.

Anyway, we arrived in the area around lunchtime so decided to drop into the RSPB reserve at Loch Garten. We stopped in a lay-by about half-a-mile short of it to get our camera gear out of the boot and noticed loads of birds in the trees so we put down some seed and they immediately came down to feed. Numerous Coal Tits

Great Tits

and Chaffinches

Of course, these are common back home but we were hoping for the Scottich endemic Crested Tit and several eventually came down too.

An excellent start to the break so we checked in at the hotel to decide on the itinery for tomorrow.