Rubbish photos.

Friday was a pleasant enough day and an early start. We picked up quite a few of the common birds early on before we got a ten second fly past of a Golden Eagle that gave us something to build on. We watched the Gannets fishing offshore and the Manx Shearwater loafing on the sea before we got a tremendous sighting of something. We were viewing one of the Seal colonies and I was busy scanning around when I saw some distant splashing out on the loch. I trained the scope on the area and saw something like this.

You may be wondering what it is as the photos are rubbish but 30 Common Dolphins coming up the loch was an opportunity not to be missed so I'm not worrying about the quality. The Dolphins were leaping out of the water quite regularly but impossible to catch with the digiscoping so the best I got was a big splash!

They were cruising up and down the loch but not getting much closer as they followed the fish they were feeding on. We caught up with the pod again later in the day as we were looking for Otters. Viewed from a different angle we could have upped the numbers in the pod but it was interesting to note that the ones that leaped out of the water the most were on the end of a line, presumably channelling the fish in front of the group. A brief sighting of a WT Eagle in flight distracted us and then an Otter appeared too. We moved closer to the Otter and settled in to watch it as I scanned the ridge and picked up the WT Eagle sitting on the top. Maybe I shouldn't look around so much;-) We got some superb Golden Eagle action after that as two birds followed each other around before one of them stooped, disappeared and then reappeared with something in it's talons. It dropped the object and stooped down to catch it again before both birds glided out of sight. A Red Deer crossed the road in front of us and watched us drive past to see us out of the glen and finish another day in style.

Saturday started off in fine weather but a front was moving in from the West so we knew there would be rain in the afternoon sometime. A juvenile Golden Eagle flew over the top of us before we'd even got in the motor and had everyone scrabbling for binoculars. A lesson there - be prepared! Another cracking day was had but with the cloud building and the rain soon to appear most of the photos I took were rubbish! We made up for the early Golden Eagle sighting with another juvenile bird that performed superbly.

I had two opportunities to photograph WT Eagle as we had excellent views but the camera just didn't want to know. The Greenshanks gave us the run around, the Curlews didn't want to be close, Ringed Plover were too far, Mountain Hare was a good find in poor conditions, Buzzards aplenty and the only decent, but still not good, photograph was of a Cormorant.

It was another cracking day in the field but you can't always come away from that with usable images.

Small stuff

A quick run out with PS on Thursday looking for nothing in particular. The sun was shining and it was warm so we thought about bagging some of the small stuff. A nice gathering of 3 Cormorants enjoying the nice drying conditions and a GBB Gull.

A quick look for the juv WT Eagle was an easy pick up as the bird flew over the top of us.

A fly past Peregrine courtesy of the alarm calling Swallows was a nice sighting for the day. When a juv WT Eagle appeared over the ridge we expected to be seeing the bird we'd seen earlier but you can see this bird is mid moult. As this bird moved off the original bird reappeared - good stuff.

We headed off to a sheltered area to see what small stuff was on show. A Small Copper was gorging itself on the heather blooms and allowed a close approach.

Not too far away was this caterpillar that I haven't identified yet (any help appreciated).

The Common Hawkers that were flying around were a lot harder to pin down but I finally managed an alternative angle to photograph this one.

This was a new one for me and well named - Black Darter. Always busy but, conveniently, it returned to the same landing area.

I couldn't find anything to match this one but PS said it was a female Black Darter - that'll do for me unless anyone knows better!

An Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar was surperb find by the sharp eyed PS.

A couple of well worn Common Blue were flying around and we eventually got a few shots of this one that was feeding on Eyebright. They seem to be savage beasts as every time a Speckled Wood flew by it was keen to see it off! It's a tough life being a butterfly.

This Shield Bug didn't have any of those problems as it ambled along a stalk of dead Bracken.

Finally, one of the Speckled Woods that were flying around annoying the Blue.

Smooth transition

The last day of August and the first day of September were two very similar days packed with good sightings. The Golden Eagles are showing extremely well and hopefully will continue.

Reptiles are not too far away from hibernation and sightings will reduce over the next month but we've had Adder, Slow Worm and Common Lizard over the last two days.

Insects are still around in abundance - this grasshopper was living dangerously as it was photographed next to the lizard.

A lot of the plant species will be dying away now but you can still see the likes of Butterwort, Sundew, Autumn Gentian and the heather is still blooming. The biggest signs of  the change in seasons is the Bracken dying away and the stags looking ready for the rut with fine sets of antlers and their shaggy manes appearing.

The Otters are still showing well but the weather has been good. I've not had many sightings of Otters sleeping in the open this year but maybe that will change with the season too.

The WT Eagle sightings should start to increase as the young birds start to move around. There will be an urge for these juveniles to travel and with a satellite pack on the local youngster we'll be able to see how our bird fares in her travels. I'll not leave out the small birds - the Wrens and Robins are back in song, the Crossbills are never far away, the migrant birds will be leaving and others will call in on their way South - exciting times!