Five of the best.

September begins - one tour - five photos. We could have wrapped things up in the first hour as we started the day with, not one, but two Otters.

While watching one of the Otters bring a flatfish ashore an adult WT Eagle put all the birds up and landed in a tree behind us!

We managed to see both of the juvenile WT Eagles flying in the distance too. The usual suspects were taken in as we found them. A quick visit to the Tawny Owl paid off.

We'd seen quite a few Buzzards along the way and they set the scene quite nicely for an encounter with it's big cousin - Golden Eagle.

We had both of the Golden Eagle flying around, a single Adder, 4 Red Deer and a Common Lizard while we had lunch. Another bunch of common birds in the afternoon and 3 Red Deer stags to finish the day in style.

Contrast.

The last tour in August was a real contrast to the previous days effort. We started the day off with a juvenile Hen Harrier then it became a real struggle to find any of the 'big ones'. There was enough of the common things to keep us going and I knew it would come in time. Curlew, Red Deer, Redshank, Kestrel, Meadow Pipit - the list goes on but no biggies. A young Common Seal was nice to see at close quarters...

...and a Cormorant sailed past.

Quite a few Common Buzzard around too.

We had lunch and watched a few Ravens - it was looking dire. All of a sudden our luck changed as one of the guests picked up two WT Eagle in flight. A decision to get a bit closer paid off as we gained an Otter but lost the eagles. It didn't get any easier after that but we got superb views of Golden Eagle after a long wait and an Adder was found too. A few more small birds, two more Hen Harrier and a heap of Mountain Hare finished the day in style.

Serendipity.

Circumstances dictated where the tour was going to start and a guests chance conversation with another tourist gave us our first Otter of the day - serendipity.

The whole day continued in the same vein...we left the Otter as it headed away from us and as we headed along the road a male Hen harrier flew in front of us. Quite a few Raven were seen through the day but none were more obliging than these two.

No sign of the adult WT Eagle but there was a youngster perched up in a tree...result. We moved on again and it wasn't too long before I picked up an Otter peeking over the top of a rock. A Grey Heron was fishing close by so a few photos of the bird shaking the water off were taken...

...just as the Otter reappeared in full view.

A couple of Red-throated Diver were heard calling to each other so we had decent views of them through the scope. We bumped into what was, probably, the same male Hen Harrier but closer this time. Two Golden Eagle performed very well while we had lunch and even came in for a close look at us before we left.

Good views of a Common Lizard and an Adder were had before we got some stunning views of a young WT Eagle.

A Northern Wheatear slowed us down for a while as we watched it feeding.

It might be 'just a pigeon' but the humble Rock Dove is quite stunning up close. It won't be too long before they are wiped out by breeding with Feral Pigeons.

Mountain Hare almost let us down but finding this one feeding beside a thistle saved the day!

The trip back produced a cracking Red Deer stag while we viewed some Common Seals.