Better than expected.

Not a great deal of birding done over the last few day due to a combination of weather and the price of fuel. I did have my first Goldcrest of the year on Monday while I was helping out a mate.

Tuesday I was out on tour and keen to see as much as possible but the weather forecast was pretty horrendous. The decision was made to head for the high ground and hope the cloud would lift a bit before the alleged torrential rain came in. It wasn't looking good as we headed towards the WT Eagle nest but we needed have worried as we picked up one of the birds with ease. Next target was Golden Eagle and we hit lucky again - as we viewed one bird on the nest the other bird came flying over us and landed, with prey, in full sight - fantastic! Next on the hit list was to try to pick up an Otter in the choppy water - no problem. First stop 2 Great Northern Diver and 1 Otter. The Otter was distant to start with before it headed towards us and eventually hauled out just as the rain started. With the main targets in the bag the rest of the day shouldn't be affected by the weather conditions and it turned out to be better than expected. Cracking views of Stonechat, Siskin, Coal Tit, Red Deer and both types of Seal along with plenty of other stuff before lunch. A Yellowhammer posed on the fence long enough for a photo...

...while a good selection of waders when we hit the beach. Ringed Plover are always nice to see...

...a Grey Plover posed for the camera too...

...but the flock of Turnstone seemed keen to move on.

A couple of Wild Goat were a surprise find but I couldn't get both of them in the picture.

The biggest surprise of all was the rain held off until the end of the day but we still picked up more wildlife at close quarters. Mountain Hare, Shelduck, Lapwing, Wheatear, Rock Pipit and a flock of 10 Twite.

I received a delivery of mugs with a few of my photos on - nice!