Faith.

Having faith in what you want to see usually pays off. Monday I was back to the wildlife watching in poor weather. It had been a stunning day on Sunday with wall to wall sunshine and now it was wall to wall cloud, low cloud, with rain - brilliant! The saving grace was that the wind was light and the water was flat calm so the Otter hunt should easy, right? Wrong! There wasn't a thing moving except for a Cormorant, a Shag, numerous Hooded Crow and the countless Grey Herons. We checked out the WT Eagle site - you couldn't see it! So that wasn't a bad start:-) We kick started things with a small herd of Red Deer hinds that were just visible through the ground touching cloud. We headed back to the WT Eagle site to find it had miraculously cleared and there was the youngster stretching and flapping his wings before taking flight and dropping out of sight! I had a plan - we moved location and managed to pick the bird up again getting good views. The wind had picked up and the rain was still persistent but as we stopped to look for Otters again I picked up a shape moving further out. Too far out for an Otter and sporting a dorsal fin - Bottle-nosed Dolphin! We clambered out of the motor and I tried to get everyone onto the cetaceans. They were moving around a fair bit and staying under water for a fair while. While scanning about I caught a bit of movement in the bottom of the view through the bins - an Otter was heading for shore with a fish. Forget the Dolphins, back in the motor and stop next to the Otter. Stunning views were had of the Otter devouring it's fish before it moved off. We headed in the same direction and watched him fish his way into the distance before I picked up the Dolphins again. After a bit of a struggle everyone got views of these beauties as they headed back out to sea. Well, that had turned things around quite nicely! As the day progressed the rain got heavier but we still managed to get an Adder, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Red-throated Diver, Mountain Hare and some cracking views of Snipe, Meadow Pipit and Common Buzzard. A brilliant day despite the weather which stopped me taking any photos.
Tuesday the sun was back out again with a bit of a wind blowing. With a family group taking up the spaces for the day the top priority was birds of prey and in particular White-tailed Eagle. First bird on the list for the day was a female Hen Harrier that cruised along in front of us before peeling off to the right and showing very well. I'd done the unthinkable and said that WT Eagle shouldn't be a problem so when we arrived at the site there was nothing on show. I filled the guests in on the history of these birds and scanned the trees and horizons wondering when we would get a look at this magnificent bird. All of a sudden the gulls in the bay took off and started calling in alarm - there was the female WT Eagle flying in! It's a great way to see your first WT Eagle and she soon settled in a tree. We moved closer for a better view and I could hear the youngster calling too. She moved off and passed some prey to the youngster who then put in an appearance and gave excellent views. We watched the youngster finish breakfast, have a preen, wobble about on the branches before expertly taking flight and disappear from sight - magical! We stopped to view the Common Seal colony and were greeted by a Sparrowhawk flying around being mobbed by pipits before we headed off to lunch. This was time to see to the next request for insectivorous plants so Sundew and Butterwort were checked out along with the seed pods on Fragrant Orchid, Bog Asphodel and the still flowering Tormentil and Eyebright. We used the binoculars as a magnifying glass to get better view of the small flowers and watched a spider creating it's web. A Golden Eagle put in an appearance along with another two Sparrowhawk and, of course, a view of an Adder. Grey Herons are plentiful around here and there is always an opportunity to get a shot of the birds that are more used to people.

A couple of Mountain Hare were showing well but they were overshadowed by the male Hen Harrier that was flying around just behind them! Cracking views of Wheatear, Skylark...

...Meadow Pipit...

...Rock Pipit...

...and Common Buzzard were had before a larger bird of prey was located. Another juvenile WT Eagle was attracting the attention of the local corvids as it sailed merrily along. Even the journey home produced more goodies as we picked up another Sparrowhawk being mobbed by a couple of Hooded Crow, a cracking stag and best of all another WT Eagle perched in a tree behind the shop!