I'm back

It's been a long time but I lost the will to live with blogger due to the internet problems. It took seven months to get it fixed - Facebook was easier to upload to so that has been a big help. I'm jut dabbling at the moment so here are few photos from earlier in the year - March to June in no particular order...

Buff-tip

 Common Sandpiper

 Golden Eagle

 Golden Plover

 Golden-ringed Dragonfly

 Male Hen Harrier

 Female Hen Harrier

 Montain Hare

 Otter

 Puffin

 Razorbill

 Redshank

 Common Seal

 Skylark

 Common Snipe

 Stonechat

 Treecreeper

 Whinchat

 White-tailed Eagle

 Yellowhammer

2015

A steady start to the year with a bit of birding from the garden. White-tailed Eagle was the highlight but it was distant while in the garden there were plenty of Goldfinch...

...and a few Blackbirds too.

It was a bit dull today but as I was sent on an errand I took the birding equipment with me too. A cracking Golden Eagle was seen hunting by the road.

It's not too often that you see them perched on a post but it does happen...

...and if you are going to get yourself noticed you will get some unwanted attention!

No sign of the WF geese today but there was a 200 strong flock of Barnacle Geese.

Plenty of Rock Doves on show...

...plus lots of Rooks and a few Jackdaws.

I had driven past these Common Seals in the morning but I gave them a closer look on my way back.

Before the storm

The days just before the storm hit were pretty calm and there didn't seem to be an increase of birds at the feeders. They don't get much better looking than a Blue Tit.

There was an increase in the gull population though. There must have been 300 Common Gulls at the head of the loch with another 600 out on the main part of the loch.

The rough weather never seems to affect the seals and Otters. There were plenty of Common Seals to be seen 'bottling' close to shore...

 ...while an Otter swam past keeping an eye on me.

Halloween

No ghosts, ghouls or pumpkins in this post just the last two tours in October. Both days were dreich to say the least so not too many photos. No Golden eagle on either day due to the weather but Otters were the most sought after on both days. This Buzzard was obviously feeling a bit hungry as he was hunting in the rain.

Barnacle Geese were seen both days but we did get 33 Greenland White-fronted Geese flying over on day 2. If you look carefully at the photo below you can see there is an Otter swimming past these two Grey Seals.

Three Otters were seen on the first tour and four on the second - not a bad result for both sets of guests.

A couple of treats were had in the shape of Dipper...

...and a Whimbrel.

End of September

Just before I set off for the final tour of the month I had views of a male Hen Harrier quickly followed by a sighting of a flock of Starling being hunted by a Sparrowhawk.

The guests had requested Otters as the thing to see for the day. Around high tide we picked picked up our first Otter of the day which we watched for a good half an hour. A couple of Golden Eagle and a WT Eagle were seen before we picked up a family of 3 Otters. The youngsters had a bit of a squabble in the water...

...while a Common Seal watched us from close quarters.

Time flies when you are enjoying yourself so it was an hour and a half before we left the Otters. The usual waders were seen and another single bird of each species of eagle. There have been some impressive gatherings of Hooded Crows in various places.

A bundle of fun

Another glut of sightings. We started the day with the Golden Plover, Greenshank, Redshank and Dunlin. A WT Eagle was a good one to pick up early in the day while an Otter performed well before curling up to go to sleep. Good numbers of Common Seal were seen close to shore,

Just before lunch we found this bundle of fun.

A Yellowhammer was seen as we parked up for lunch, four Long-tailed Tit were flitting through the trees with a couple of Blue Tit for company, one Adder at the side of a track, 200 Eider and a single Lesser Redpoll. Quite a few Swallows were seen but we only found a single Wheatear. We managed another trio of raptors in the afternoon as we had a Sparrowhawk flying in front of the motor, a single Kestrel and last of all a nice sighting of a female Hen Harrier.

Realistic

When the temperature soars into the twenties you have to be realistic about what the wildlife will do. When it gets hot the wildlife goes quiet so a bit more patience is required. We started the day with the Golden Plover flock, Grey Heron, Curlew and other birds along the shore. The loch was quiet so we had to be content with the commoner birds. We hit lucky with the WT Eagle as it flew in as we arrived on site and then flew off just as we were leaving. A search for Otters was fruitless but we did get nice views of a couple of Common Seal.

There was a decent breeze blowing when we stopped for lunch and we watched a pair of Golden Eagle flying around and doing their roller-coaster display.

We had another lucky break with a WT Eagle. We had just climbed into the motor and just about to drive off when the gulls started calling in alarm so we jumped back out see this adult bird flying overhead - awesome!

Our good fortune continued with some cracking views of Raven flying past...

...A couple of Dunlin, male Hen Harrier and an Adder too. An Otter was found right at the end of the day so that was a bonus. I busied myself with taking a few snaps of the Common Tern that was fishing along the coast.

A Hooded Crow was too hot to move so he made the grade for the day - off for a well earned pint after that!