Magic moments

Wednesday was another day off but busy with other jobs. I was asked if I'd seen any eagles while I was in the shop, I hadn't, but when I stepped outside there was a Golden Eagle sitting on the ridge and a male Hen Harrier quartering the marsh - easy when you know where to look!
Thursday was a late start with the Polite Spotter (PS) for company. It was a fabulous day in all respects. We had a quiet start but after about an hour we picked up something that looked like this.......we watched this for a bit until it dragged itself out of the water and it was holding on tight so as not to get washed away....It wasn't too long before the youngster hauled out beside mum - result. The sky was blue and so was the air as PS cursed the Otter for being too far away - oh well! The youngster must have heard the commotion and, very kindly, caught a fish and brought it ashore right underneath us!'Don't hide behind the rock!' was the cry and again the prayer was answered as the Otter moved into a more photogenic position........tasty fish, yum.......it was like a kid with a big bag of bullets(sweets, in case you don't know).....Mum, being sensible, had done a runner while the young 'un was filling his face so there was an awful lot of squeaking going on in between the munching.With the fish devoured the Otter was off like a shot looking for mum squeaking all the time. It eventually headed off in the right direction but mum wasn't giving any clues as to where she was! A nice RT Diver was just off shore at the same time but that wouldn't pose for photos. It started raining so we jumped back in the motor to look through some of the photos and when the rain stopped a quick scan before we drove off had us gawping at a WT Eagle! It looked like it was going to land but it was just scaring the gulls before heading towards us - woohoo!Closer and closer.........it just kept coming........it drew level.........and then it was on it's way....It wasn't really going to get any better than that but we soldiered on. The decision had been made to go look for rutting deer as there was plenty of roaring going on. We found quite a few stags but they were all well up the hills and no real excitement until we found one stag making moves towards another. The camera was primed and ready to go and the battery went flat. I tried another battery and that seemed to be flat too! The last battery worked but the stags had moved apart without any grappling. While I was trying to relocate one of the stags a Golden Eagle flew through the view - get in there - so we watched this beast fly along the hillside before clearing the horizon where another two birds were already circling - brilliant stuff! They soon moved on and we followed suit but it wasn't long before PS said 'There's a jolly nice stag on the skyline'. Out we jumped to see what we could do.......a fitting end to a cracking day. We did get a stunning sumplum GN Diver and another Otter on the way back but, again, not close enough for the itchy trigger fingers!