As part of the work we do to monitor the Rothiemurchus Capercaillie population, we recently undertook our annual lek counts with James Gordon and Tim Poole of RSPB. To do this, we put up a number of camouflaged hides in the forest near the known leks (where the males gather to compete and display for the females). These displays normally occur at first light so we "slept" in the hides the night before and got up at 0430.  Shortly afterwards, the birds were onsong.

We count the males displaying to the females, which gives an idea of the population size, based on the assumption of there being approximately equal numbers of males & females. We saw 7, 4 and 2 males at the 3 sites respectively, which compares favourably with last year.

Ian Rutherford scoops top award with Rothiemurchus Ospreys.

Ian Rutherford, a long-serving and popular photographer with The Scotsman, has won the top press photography award for a record fourth time.

He was crowned First ScotRail Press Photographer of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony in Glasgow's Mitchell Theatre on 26 March.

His previous Photographer of the Year wins were in 1994, 1997 and 1998.Ian collected the award for Picture Essay of the Year with his striking images of ospreys fishing at Rothiemurchus Fishery.

Ospreys return to Rothiemurchus

We’re so excited to tell you that the first osprey of the season was seen at the Fishery on 27 March!

It is probably the "EJ" bird from Loch Garten and other birds have been seen since.  No established feeding pattern is taking place, as it’s slightly chilly at the moment with all the snow we have been having. Regular feeding will probably become more established with warmer weather which we all hope comes soon!