Friday 28 February 2014

Close encounters of the furry kind

A trip out to look for Otters in decent light was reasonably productive. Riding shotgun with Doc it wasn't too long before we came across our first Otter. A squad of Oystercatchers kept their distance...
...and a Shag kept it's eye on us...
...as the Otter swam by.
Another otter was seen in the distance and heading our way - it wasn't too long before they were together and they headed for the holt.
Another Otter was seen a bit further along and this one had an obvious kink in it's tail. With high tide fast approaching it was no surprise that this one headed into a holt too. A well marked Rock Pipit was flitting along the shore as we headed back to the car.
A few Slavonian Grebe were seen on the loch with just one of them coming close enough for a shot.
A Dipper was seen keeping a low profile behind a rock...
...and a flock of Teal were hugging the shoreline on the high tide.
We had lunch beside a 30 strong flock of Curlew...
...a Sparrowhawk landed on a post right next to the car so there was no chance of getting a photo of that while the Golden Eagle was a bit too far!
White-tailed Eagle, another Sparrowhawk, two more Otters that were a bit distant were all seen before we managed some close encounters of the furry kind. We spotted an Otter heading for shore with a crab but it hid itself away in the rocks to eat it's catch. A bit of patience and it was back out fishing again then back to shore and into the rocks. Back into the water again and then it brought a crab onto a rock - much better!
It certainly had a good spot for catching crabs.

1 comment:

Sonja said...

Some interesting images there, The last one makes the otter look like a horned monster!