Lunch

It looked like it was going to be nice today but I had to go out this morning. After a bit of hail last night and freezing temperatures I had to defrost the van before leaving so, of course, I had a quick look round with the bins. I spotted a pale looking wader sitting in the grass that was just too far to ID with the bins so out with the scope. Nothing to see. It must have been a Greenshank but it wandered into one of the channels and never reappeared. A few Red Deer and the usual array of gulls and waders until I clocked this chap. This is one of the East coast White-tailed Eagles (I'll edit the post when I get details from the RSPB).

Back from my travels the sun was still shining so a spot of lunch and out to get some shots hopefully. As I was departing I caught sight of 2 Mistle Thrush sitting on the fence at the roadside and off they flew. Loch Scridain was a lot choppier than when I'd passed an hour earlier so I just had a quick scan. No sign of any Divers, plenty of Shag, 3 Mergs and the 4 Common Scoter was the best I could do. Back along the road to see if the Thrushes were still close enough. One bird was on the ground murdering a huge black caterpillar, yum! No idea where he found that but it looked tasty. Tried for the shot with caterpillar dangling from beak but couldn't get it. The other bird was more obliging sitting on a post and more interested in the plane flying over than me.

The local Great Black-backed Gulls were having a spot of lunch too....a sheep carcase. An easy meal and always a good draw for WT Eagle. This was probably the reason the Eagle was present this morning. The WT Eagles always seem to stand back from these offerings but they do get some stick when they dig in. The drake Goosander was loafing about in front of these gulls but promptly moved off when the camera came out and the Greenshank was well tucked in sheltering from a non existent wind! Off into the Glen to see if I could get Golden Eagle. I picked one up as soon as I got out the motor, soaring over the mountains. He came down to land below the horizon and just sat surveying his territory and watching the Buzzards no doubt. Next to break the skyline was a first winter White-tailed Eagle. Always nice to see these birds without any tags. The WT Eagle dropped out of view and the Goldie was back up. The Buzzards, six of them, were wheeling about above the Goldie but not giving it any grief. Instinct had me looking away from the Goldie and there was the young WT Eagle back again and pretty close too. Fantastic!! A good 5 minutes of looking at one Eagle then the other before they both dropped out of sight again. That was me away home grinning again:-)