The Balintore road is just a road, a U road these days, and it leads up to and past Balintore castle which you could only call a work in progress, see the link for more info.
The road itself has just been repaired so it's a really nice drive but for the unwary, it's just about single track in many places but, you can follow it right along to Kirriemuir, a lovely wee town for a visit, with a couple of secrets too (There's a wee cafe there does a fab cheese, bacon and chilli jam panini)
Anyway, I drive up the road from time to time, weather dependant, there are a good few places great for birding and wildlife in general. I was sorting out RAW images this morning and came across a bundle I'd overlooked so I'll share them here. I really like going back to older shots and editing, don't know why (no guy shrugs?)
I was last up there in March ... so, here I was in May, stopped off at the lay-by for a look, see what was around.
No shortage of rabbits as ever, this time a special one showed up.
Wheatear were around here as well, not as obvious or as many in my brief stop off.
I love this spot and this stretch of road, you can just see the castle over that rise. I find driving on this road a bit hazardous, there's always something catching my eye.
I made it round to the burn ok and stopped for a wee check around there.
I was actually checking the Willow on the left of the first shots, I could hear a Garden Warbler in there ... never did see it. I did get a very poor shot of a male Blackcap, only shot I've managed this year!
On along the road to the junction.
Nice to see Lapwing coming back.
I parked at the junction at the bridge and walked up the hill.
The view from the castle lane back down into the glen is beautiful. I decided to head further up onto the hillside, I've been meaning to for ages.
You can see that it was a decent day, sunshine and clouds, what you can't see is, it was blowing a very cold wind but I carried on up the hill.
I did catch sight of a pair of Buzzards that looked like they were playing.
Looked like they were thoroughly enjoying the wind. Another one flew right over my head from behind me.
So, I headed back down the hill, way too chilly up, here and glad I did.
There was a Lapwing parading around in the field, seemingly unaware of me ...
I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a youngster wandering around and the adult was obviously trying to draw my attention away from it.
These may be my first shots of a juvenile Lapwing! It was great to see and getting shots was a real bonus but, it eventually disappeared among the reeds so I moved on, back down the road.
I drove back down to the lay-by, see if there was any more activity there.
Definitely more activity, trying to get food to their young so I didn't hang around too long.
All in all, a good day out for me.
