Ptarmigan in camouflage – a daunting quest

Cairngorms National Park We’ve tried to spot this mountain dwelling grouse in its white-feathered finery, but it’s elusiveEvery birder has a “bogey bird”, a species they have repeatedly failed to encounter. For my father and me, this bird is the winter-plumaged ptarmigan. We have made numerous visits to the Cairngorms in the hopes of seeing this mountain dwelling grouse – Lagopus mutus – in its white-feathered finery. But it has proved to be frustratingly elus