Two days news

Tuesday was another tour with the weather looking fantastic. I was watching a male Hen Harrier displaying and meeting up with the female bird just as the guests arrived. It was a bit of a distant view but as we set off we caught up with the male bird again and got better views as it went about it's business. Plenty of Grey Heron, GN Diver, RB Merg and a few Curlew...

 ...were seen along the way to view two WT Eagles. We got held up by the council repairing the road but a Golden Eagle on a ridge top gave us something to look at. When the road cleared we headed towards the Golden Eagle and managed to get two birds in flight. While checking out the Common Seals we spotted a Treecreeper and heard a Chiffchaff singing - both new birds for the year! We had a quick look for Adders before lunch and almost missed the Golden Eagle flying over our heads. The Goldie hung around and was joined by it's mate so a great sighting was had there. Another check around for reptiles produced my first Slow Worm of the year...

...and a well hidden Adder.

Another displaying Hen Harrier kept things interesting before we stopped to get a few snaps of this obliging Common Buzzard.

We finished the day in style with nice views of Shelduck, lots of Lapwing and a couple of Mountain Hares, one white and the other brown, chasing about in the field.

Wednesday looked like it was going to be a bit grotty but the cloud soon disappeared. With the guests on board we headed off to look for Mountain Hares. A failure on that one but the effort was balanced out by a cracking view of a Peregrine.

Good views were had of a couple of groups of Rock Dove. I can hear everybody saying 'It's just a pigeon!' but I like them.

A female Hen harrier having a bit of a tussle was exciting to watch and the list for the day was growing...Stonechat, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Skylark, Greenfinch, Lesser Redpoll, Great Tit - all nice birds to see and probably missed by quite a few people. Three Otters were spotted at our next stop but they played hide and seek amongst the rocks before disappearing all together. Lunchtime gave us the customary Golden Eagle sighting... 

...and also one of last years young Adders sporting it's proper colour instead of the ginger tinge they have when they are born. A real delight watching the feeders today with Great Tit, Coal Tit and Blue Tit all on the feeder at the same time before getting seen off by the Siskins. The WT Eagles were still hanging around the nest and applying the final touches before the eggs are laid. We'd had a fabulous day already but there is always something extra just round the corner - this Red Deer was a real treat...

...and a solitary Whooper Swan was a bonus as we finished the day as the fog rolled in from the ocean.