Sunday, floody Sunday or......

.....floody hell! I had the day off to watch the F1 - well done Reubens - and the weather wasn't too bad until the race finished. We had a garden party to attend in the afternoon and as soon as we set off the rain started. We sat in the motor for 20 minutes waiting for the deluge to abate and it didn't happen. Long story short - it rained a lot so we headed off in search of devastation. This is what we found........a road under troubled waters.The source of the flood - clouds and the rivers on the hills.The milepost survived.Salen 20 miles - is that by boat?Under the road it goes........up through the middle of the road........and out the other side - cool! Just a regular feature on a wet day.
Monday was a complete contrast with an almost cloudless sky but the rain was hiding at the back. Back on tour again we headed for the WT Eagles first and dipped out but 2 Golden Eagle above the ridge was a good start for the day. A few Red Deer on the hillsides were worth a look but we eventually found the WT Eagles. Both the adults and the juvenile together on a hillside having a go at what appeared to be a dead sheep. The sheep wasn't dead though as we found out when one of the eagles started tearing away at it and the legs started kicking! A cow with a calf was nearby and, surprisingly, the calf was going mental chasing the eagles off! I guess they have to take every opportunity. Off for the Otters we went but no sign of them. Another WT Eagle flew over and a distant Golden Eagle kept us going. We had a bit of a flower fest after looking at the Adders. The heather is in full bloom now......the Grasshoppers are still bouncing about.........Autumn Gentian is starting to bloom........Bog Asphodel is as striking as ever even when it's gone to seed.......and Devil's Bit Scabious looking good.We left the flowers behind and about five minutes later while driving down the road I felt this sharp pain in my back - a wasp sting I thought. I stopped the motor and looked for the offending beast but there was nothing there. A quick check of the T-shirt found a soft lump on the inside - yuk - flap the T-shirt a bit and this dropped out!!!!!!!!Biggest midge bite I've had this year - b*****d! Onwards and upwards feeling a bit weird but it's all in the mind. Cracking views of Ringed Plover soon got me back on track and the Dunlin performed well too. The biggest surprise was this Common Snipe that thought we couldn't see it.Then the heavens opened so we headed back in search of the elusive Otters. We checked a few places and picked up Red-throated Diver along the way and at the last stop we were entertained by 2 Otters to complete another cracking day.