Deeside Nature Activities

Deeside Nature Activities Wildlife watching tours in Royal Deeside Aberdeenshire Deeside Nature Activities offer a variety of wildlife watching excursions via Land Rover Discovery.

Each excursion is tailor made for the interests, abilities and budgets of our clients. We provide half or whole day trips with special emphasis on the wildlife watching in this spectacular part of Scotland. Red and Roe Deer, Red and Black Grouse, Golden Eagle, Capercaillie, Osprey, Ptarmigan, Dotterel, Snow Bunting and Crossbill are just a handful of species which occur. Visit some of the wildlife

and scenic hot spots of Deeside and Speyside. Years of experience and local knowledge will ensure you have the best possible chance to enjoy superb views of many species of Scotland’s iconic wildlife Alternatively why not take advantage of your guides experience working for two seasons as a ranger for Her Majesty the Queen on Balmoral Estate,

01/04/2022

It is with some sadness that after @ 14 years of running Deeside Nature Activities safari business We have to announce that due to Covid and changes in employment circumstances we are winding the business up. Huge thanks to all those who have helped over the years. Also thanks to the many customers who have taken advantage of my services. I hope all have enjoyed the wildlife experiences as much as I have.

Despite the lock down, I managed an early morning enjoying one of Britain's most illusive and fascinating wildlife spect...
30/04/2020

Despite the lock down, I managed an early morning enjoying one of Britain's most illusive and fascinating wildlife spectacles. Pictured are a couple of male Black Grouse fighting at their communal display area called a "lek". This occurs in spring in the wee small hours of the morning. The males fight over dominance of the "dance floor" awaiting the arrival of the females who pick which of the protagonists they wish to be mated by.

A total of 8 males joined the affray and the dancefloor was visited by at least 3 females, 2 of which, I was lucky enough to see the full mating performance.

It's a lot like the avian equivalent of Saturday night at the local pub disco!! :)

It’s been a while since DNA put up a post. With a busy winter working at Glenshee followed by the close down thanks to t...
27/04/2020

It’s been a while since DNA put up a post. With a busy winter working at Glenshee followed by the close down thanks to the Corona virus.
This situation has left us with time on our hands to catch up with domestic duties, DIY and getting caught up in the garden and advanced for the coming years planting and progressing the ground-works of the untouched areas.
The joy of this is time spent at home at a leisurely pace allowing time to sit and enjoy the beautiful weather whilst keeping an eye and ear open for what’s about.
Spring has been developing at a pace with the spring flowers showing their finery and encouraging the bees, butterflies and insects together with the reptiles. Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and unseen by me before in this area, Green Hairstreak butterfly. The Slow worm colonies have seen good numbers with several turning up on our bank as we have been working, with Common Lizards on the well-established rockery.
Bird-wise the highlight was a Hoopoe (pictured), on the 25th April, 200 metres from the house, a rare migrant who should be no further north than France though there are a few in the country at this time. The last time I saw one was over 15 years ago as a nature reserve warden at Dungeness in Kent. Preceding this rarity, the previous week saw the arrival of the first Swallow on the 10th, Tree Pipit (11th), Willow Warbler (16th), Sedge Warbler (22nd) and Blackcap (23rd). The pair of Ospreys were back on their nest on the 15th and gardening has been punctuated with 2 sightings of a pair of Goshawks (Shhhhhh don’t tell the keepers), Peregrine Falcon, Golden Eagle, Sparrowhawk, but no overflying Ospreys yet.

Autumn safaris going well with migrants like this Redwing showing well, also some lucky clients got to see a White Taile...
30/09/2019

Autumn safaris going well with migrants like this Redwing showing well, also some lucky clients got to see a White Tailed Sea Eagle last week. Red Deer are a little thin on the ground but the Autumn Rut should be kicking off any day so there presence should become more notable. Now all we need is some decent weather.

Spring has sprung with a great little flurry of safaris, despite the colder Easterly airflow making it cold and giving l...
16/04/2019

Spring has sprung with a great little flurry of safaris, despite the colder Easterly airflow making it cold and giving less than perfect visibility. Results have been good with the usual 3 species of deer and 2 species of grouse in good evidence together with the returning waders like Curlew and Lapwing and some early ,migrants like Wheatear, Meadow Pipit and Sand Martin. Today's trip had the bonus of good numbers of Crossbill, an overflying Osprey and Golden Eagle to finish.

Beautiful weather for a walking safari in the Ballochbuie forest today, a little quiet on the wildlife front but a stunn...
18/02/2019

Beautiful weather for a walking safari in the Ballochbuie forest today, a little quiet on the wildlife front but a stunning environment :)

Despite the plethora of autumnal storms, “Calum and Leslie” to name but 2,  the Red Deer rut continues. The roaring of ...
15/10/2018

Despite the plethora of autumnal storms, “Calum and Leslie” to name but 2,  the Red Deer rut continues. The roaring of the stags left recent clients experiencing the iconic sounds of the Scottish uplands, together with the sights of them doing battle over ownership of the harems of hinds.

Combine this with excellent views of the displaying Black C**k, overflying migrating geese and the arrival of flocks of Fieldfare and Redwing and one has the recipe for fantastic safaris.

Whilst the afore mentioned storms have taken some of the leaves off the trees, the fantastic seasonal colours are still giving a beautiful backdrop to these wonderful wildlife spectacles.

The Autumnal safaris continue despite the best efforts of storm Ali to blow out the chances of getting out. Although it ...
20/09/2018

The Autumnal safaris continue despite the best efforts of storm Ali to blow out the chances of getting out. Although it was windy, we managed to find a gap in the rain showers and rain bows to find a little sunshine to see some good heards of Red Deer together with Roe and a couple of Fallow Deer and finally after a couple of blank safaris on the Red grouse front due to the low breeding success this year, we managed to catch up with a good covey of half a dozen Red grouse to add to the displaying Black C**k that started the morning off.

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Ballater
AB355TP

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