July

The good weather continues so it was another blistering day with highs of 24C. Just before the guests turned up a couple of Common Crossbill were down on the shore having a drink and perching on the wires.

We hoped to get the big stuff before the heat quietened things down. We spent a bit of time with an obliging Common Buzzard...

...and then a lot of time photographing Golden-ringed Dragonfly while we waited for WT Eagle to turn up (it didn't). A flock of about 15 Curlew flying around had the alarm bells ringing so it was no surprise to find a WT Eagle flying around in a different location. We managed to find an Otter while we had lunch. Another pair of WT Eagle were seen to cover the whole of a Golden Eagle territory with no response from the resident birds - strange. A Red Admiral was holding territory in a patch of nettles...

...while a family party of Northern Wheatears were nearby.

A surprise find was a Hedgehog out in the daytime. With the hot weather the hog was probably struggling to find food so a daytime trip out was probably a good strategy.

Mountain Hares were seen too as three of them chased each other around in the long vegetation.