Merry Christmas!!

Another selection of pictures from November and December to see you over the festive season.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - enjoy!

Mum and cub heading for the holt.

Goldcrest flitting through the gorse.

A nice view over Loch Beg.

A Redwing that was fresh in from Iceland in November.

It looks like the Raven is on the back of the sheep but it's actually on a rock just behind.

Goosander - a nervous bird up here.

Robin - I had to put one in here!

Good views of Kestrel over the last couple of months.

A passing shower with Ben More in the background - this image was shown on the BBC weather forecast.

Whooper Swans continuing their journey south. They left in the half light early in the morning.

The ever playful Otters.

Nothing more exciting than a male Hen Harrier in a blue sky.

White-tailed Eagle doing the same!

Size comparison between White-tailed Eagle and Hooded Crow.

Common Buzzard making a kill.

A pale morph Common Buzzard.

Immature Golden Eagle - very impressive bird.

A direct comparison between the two eagle species - Golden Eagle on the right.

Redwing.

Otter rolling in the seaweed.

I like this shot of Hooded Crow landing.

It was nice to see the moon a few times in December - it's been a bit wet.

Greenshank.

All the best for 2016.

Leap

I saw these three Otters heading along the shore so I kept going and walked back to where they were. I arrived at the spot just as they were scent marking and getting ready to leave.

The Grey Herons seem to be flying past every couple of minutes so I had to grab a snap of one.

I was surprised at how nice this Robin looked as it was sitting in a shaded area at the time...

...and this Greenshank couldn't have been in a darker place!

All the stags near the road seem to be fairly small in the antler department but it's better than no antlers at all and not to be sneezed at.

Daylight hours are fairly short now so time really does seem to fly by. It was nice to get one last chance of some Otter shots as this one took a leap.

After the storm

The wind blew, the rain fell and there was a fair bit of flashing and banging too but, thankfully, there was no serious damaged caused by the storm. We did get a dusting of snow on the road which gave me the chance to take the Christmas shot of a Robin.

Sadly, there was nothing interesting blown in. It's not too often that the Common Teal come to the near shore but it was fairly sheltered so a few of them took the opportunity.

This bedraggled Buzzard was perched up at the side of the road and he wasn't going to move - he's giving me a good hard look!

A nice close view of an Otter taking it's catch ashore...

...while on a shopping trip was a bit of a treat but the only other decent sighting was a male Hen Harrier and a few Curlew feeding in a field.

Visit

Another early morning visit from the Crossbills but we did get six more on the tour too.

After looking through the waders on the shore we got some nice views of a young WT Eagle loafing on the side of the loch...

...before it flew off.

You always see plenty of Buzzards around - flying, perched up, drying their wings etc - but I think this is the first time I've seen one sunbathing.

A Golden Eagle perched on the ridge took off to give us better views in flight. Three Otters were seen, four WT Eagles flying together before we got some pretty awesome views of Golden Eagle.

There are still plenty of Swallows about for now but the Wheatears are starting to thin out now. Other highlights were Snipe and Kestrel but sometimes it's the really common stuff that catches the eye, like a Robin - a really stunning bird.

2014

Here we go again with another year and another Patchwork Challenge. The weather is not the best but I still managed to get a few birds on the list to start the list off - 35 species on the 1st. Highlights were Otter, WT Eagle, Golden Eagle, Black Guillemot, GN Diver, BT Diver and quite a few Kittiwake. No chance of any photos in the dull conditions but I did take a few snaps through the window of the visitors to the feeders. There were Blackbirds and Redwing in the field next to the house and three Dunnocks were on my side of the fence.

A couple of Coal Tits were the most frequent visitors to the feeder...

...and a single Robin was spending most of it's time skulking at the bottom of the Willow tree.

The weather was a bit calmer today and, strangely, most of the birds had cleared off! A superb view of a Greenshank was had...

...and four Otters were seen too.

PWC - 43 species.

Good and bad

The weather has been a bit changeable so I'll deal with the bad first! We had a bit of strong wind that brought with it a few flurries of snow and we had to go out in it. It was just after sunrise so there wasn't a great deal to be seen but all of the gulls were hogging the shore waiting for tasty items to be washed ashore. We had two superb sightings of Golden Eagle along the way though. They must have seen all of the gull activity and come for a closer look in case there was something to be had.

The following day was good weather as it was nice and bright with very little wind compared to the previous day. The Buzzard were out in force and a lot of them had full crops.

Most of the Robins that I saw were keen to get a bit closer in case there was food to be had.

A surprise find was two feral cats curled up in the sun. It's not very often you see them in the open like this.

Best find of the day was a male Great Spotted Woodpecker that stopped in a small stand of trees.

I spent some time watching a group of Redwing working their way across a field and got the occasional chance to get a few shots of them.