End of August

A quick round up of what's happening at the end of August. Despite the Golden Eagles having a poor breeding season there are still sub adult birds around to show the different plumage.

There seems to be quite a few Grey Wagtails now.

Plenty of Buzzards on show as the youngsters are now venturing out.

The hirundines are starting to gather before their migration south so Swallows and House Martins perched together is nice to see.

There are a few Little Grebes starting to appear on the sea lochs.

Stonechat - just stunning.

This Buzzard was drying off and allowed a close approach.

There doesn't seem to be that many Linnet or Twite around but you can always rely on a Skylark.

The Adders should continue to perform until we have a cold snap.

A variety of waders around at the moment with Redshank, Greenshank, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Curlew, Knot and Dunlin.

We had two attempts at getting this Golden Eagle but it was worth the wait.

The Otters are continuing to be elusive at the moment - some sightings but nothing close enough for photographs. There are plenty of gulls around as the Mackerel...

...are chasing whitebait onto the shore.

It does mean that the WT Eagles are trying to get in on the act too.

PWC - species 102, points 127. Year list 141

Year ticks...

...and on the patch too. A few days of stroppy weather produced these birds some of which were overdue. There were two Sand Martins flying back and forth outside the shop. They normally turn up at the back end of March so the middle of April is a bit late!

In the afternoon there was no sign of the Sand Martins but there was a House Martin flying around instead! The House Martin is pretty much on time.

Common Scoter I have seen already this year but this one is on the patch - terrible weather, terrible view but an superb bird.

Another day, more stroppy weather with strong winds and a bird I've not had on the patch before. A tern was spotted in the distance, I got it in the scope and you could see it was an Arctic Tern - a great find. I turned around to get the camera, turned back to look and the bird was gone! A quick scan and I could see the bird had settled on the rocks so I headed off, on foot, in the rain. The bird was back in flight before I got anywhere near close enough so I kept going and settled down on the rocks in the rain. The bird kind of did circuits while it fed so it came reasonably close at times - some good shots and lots of bad ones but it was worth it.

New stuff.

Another hot day produced a slack time for the wildlife and not much camera action. The House Martins look like they are ready to go...

...and the Swallows are not too far behind with their second brood. Highlights from the day were a couple of Golden Eagle at close range...

and, of course, the Adders.

We had three Hen Harriers through the day and a single WT Eagle but no Otter.
The following day was overcast but it looked like it was going to be more productive than the hot days. I took a couple of snaps of a Grey Heron in the sea just to check the camera settings.

The start of the day was a bit frustrating as the best we could find was a small herd of Red Deer after we'd had some good views of a couple of Greenshank.

The sightings soon picked up as we pulled in to view a Common Seal. The seal disappeared and we waited and the next thing to be picked up was an Otter. We got decent views of this one fishing but we changed location to improve the viewing a bit. While we watched the Otter two WT Eagles appeared over the ridge. The Otter came ashore in front of us...

...and a Golden Eagle flew over the top as we headed back to the motor! Sparrowhawks were a feature of the day as we'd got cracking views of one sitting on the fence in the morning, two more in the afternoon and this one at lunchtime.

Cracking views of a RT Diver were had before we went for lunch where we had another Golden Eagle, Adders and some nice views. The afternoon was quite productive too with a close encounter with a WT Eagle.

A couple of Northern Wheatears were seen in different locations - still a smart bird though.

This Mountain Hare was very obliging...

...and there was plenty of stuff to finish the day off. Hen Harrier was missing from our list so it was nice to find one, Twite and Skylark were seen, Ringed Plover and Dunlin were in good numbers and a single Sanderling. A new one for me, on Mull, was a cracking Little Stint which took the year list to 148.

Death in the gutter.

Thursday I had a bit of  time for looking at nothing in particular. There are plenty of Scotch Argus on the wing, posing on the verges until you point a camera at them!

While attempting the above photo I was distracted by a couple of dragons in the ditch. Turns out they were Keeled Skimmers - nice.

The Swallows seem to be hanging around and possibly going for a second brood. Let's hope they have enough time to do the business.

The House Martins continue to have the same problems with the nest disintegrating over time. One chick is dead in the gutter and the other is being fed by the adult bird - it won't last long on the ground though.

Friday we started off with three WT Eagle - one flying in the distance, a chick on the nest and one of the adults getting some grief from a Buzzard.

A good supporting cast through the day with three Hen Harriers, Linnet, Twite, RT Diver, Stonechat and a recently fledged Spotted Flycatcher.

Spine tingler.

Tuesday the weather took a turn for the better as it went from warm to hot! The House Martins finally arrived today and immediately got down to business.

When we turned up at the WT Eagle nest there was no sign of any adult birds which was odd as they won't be out of sight of the chicks at this stage. A bit of a look around revealed the adult bird hiding behind a branch so we moved for a better look and no sooner was that done and the adult flew to the nest - good times. GN Diver and SE Owl carried on the good sightings with a few of the commoner birds to fill the gaps. Next up was a stop for Golden Eagle and, boy, was it a good one. Nothing to see at first and then two birds were seen rising from behind the forestry and then they started to drift towards us.

A Hen Harrier rose up to buzz the eagles but maybe two was one too many as it disappeared pretty quick - the Goldies came closer.

There was no need for binoculars as both birds drifted over the top of us - a real spine tingler!!

You had to be there.

As we left the area we admired a male Whinchat and also saw a female Redstart. We managed to get decent views of an Adder before we had lunch and a nice display from a pair of Hen Harrier before I headed back for some reptile shots. There were two Adders curled up together - you can see the eye is clear on one beast...

...and cloudy on the second one. The cloudy eye is an indication that the skin will be shed soon.

After all that excitement we calmed things down in the afternoon with a wander on the beach and watched the likes of Stonechat and Sedge Warbler and finished the day off with more views of Short-eared Owl. I was kidnapped by BB as I arrived home to go watch the Shorties again - it's a hard life!