Thursday 21 February 2013

A full day.

A cracking day out in perfect conditions. A good start with three Otters in the loch and a Hen Harrier hunting  the ridge...
...a fly past Sparrowhawk and a hovering Kestrel.
A bit further along the road a male Hen Harrier was seen dive bombing a young Golden Eagle and a wee bit further on there were a couple of WT Eagle. Two Red Deer were in a shady spot and not fussed at a close approach in the car.
Another family of Otters were located just as one of them caught a fish. There was a mad dash for the shore...
...and one of the youngsters was keen to get a share of this fish!
With the weather being so good it was a good time to look for the Adders. The wind was cool and blowing across the area where the snakes should be but there were two Adders basking in the sun - result!
A Golden Eagle had been seen disappearing behind the ridge and it's mate was sitting on the ridge. The second bird was soon in flight and the first bird returned carrying some heather in it's beak. Another Hen Harrier put in an appearance - looks like it should be moulting before too long.
One of the Golden Eagles finally decided to give us a closer look.
A return to the first Otter family was made and a bit of patient waiting paid off. Two of the Otters made their way past...
...while number three was finishing off a fish and eventually came past about 15 minutes later.
A female Stonechat posed nicely in the sunshine...
...and the day was finished off with another Hen Harrier - a full day!

4 comments:

lapland said...

Excellent set of photos. Looks like we should have come to Mull instead of Cairngorm.

Carole Fox said...

Great set of photos

PMBrem said...

Things are building nicely for yet another great year of Mull wildlife watching!

StuartP said...

There for a week from 16th March, you're really wetting my appetite Bryan, not that it needs much wetting, I just love the place