As I walk beside a quiet lochan at the hem of the Cairngorms, a goldeneye family speeds into view. The mother is sleek, with russet crown and yellow eye, while her chicks are tousled fluffballs, but matching her in pace and the comical thrusting of the head. With her, they leap into a dive. Moments later, all re-emerge in a carpet of waterlilies, losing any sense of urgency as they meander through the pads.
Overhead, gulls wheel and tip, corvids feather the air and a grey heron makes a flappy circuit. Below, four tufted ducks turn in languorous circles, dipping and shaking their glossy heads to full effect in the sunshine. In contrast, sand martins perform aerial circus stunts all across the loch, careening about in their crazy, dippy flight, glancing off the water and catapulting into the air.
