Keep it small.

Sunday was a bit overcast but the football and rugby were taking up most of the day after a quick walk in the morning. Three Wigeon and the odd stag were the best of the day. 

Monday was an absolute stunner with blue sly, no wind and 9 degrees!! It was the ideal conditions to dig out some of the small stuff that I haven't seen this year. I got a trio of goodies as soon as I arrived with 4 Skylark scurrying about amongst six Reed Bunting...

...and a Pied Wagtail not too far away.

The Starling flock was up to a couple of hundred birds - cracking birds.

I could see another flock of small birds sitting on the wires a few hundred yards away but just too far to ID them. I walked up the road to get a better view picking up Kestrel, Hen Harrier and 120 strong flock of Barnacle Geese. I'd seen the small birds drop to the ground so all I had to do was find them without disturbing them. A bit of careful walking and I had them in my sights and a bit of patience and they had made their way towards me - 14 Twite were the prize.

The male House Sparrows were looking very smart as they kept an eye on the ladies.

The next stop was for the reptiles, surely they would be on show in this heat! I checked the area carefully and finally located one basking in full view.

I was happy with the haul for the day so I decided to park up and just see what would come by. Plenty of stuff out on the loch with the highlights being a Slavonian Grebe, one Black-throated Diver, plenty of Razorbill and an Oystercatcher that was in full display mode - he never shut up and flew past every couple of minutes.

One more stunner before the day was done - a male Siskin on the feeder.

Flight.

Friday was another pleasant day. Apparently the rest of the country is freezing while we are basking in plus five degrees - quite pleasant in the sunshine. As the weather was so nice I thought I would check out the Adders again. We are only a week away from the earliest date that I have seen them before so, with no sign of them, it looks like the temperature is not encouraging them out at all. There won't be much difference in daylight hours in a weeks time but maybe they really are that sensitive to the changes - we'll see. It wasn't a fruitless day out though. As I parked up I could see a Buzzard sitting on a distant post, it took flight as I took a few test shots - I like the feel of the motion in this one.

I managed to walk past this Red Deer hind to get the light on it before it wandered off.

A pair of Golden Eagle put in an appearance for a while before disappearing. Three Meadow Pipits were seen on the track as I continued up the hill and located one of the Goldies sitting on the ridge. The Golden Eagle took flight and quickly disappeared and I thought that would be the last I would see of them. On my return journey I'd stopped to watch a Stonechat and as that disappeared from sight I turned around to find a Golden Eagle flying towards me over the trees. It put on quite a display with it's mate not too far away - the best of the action was the foot dangling.

No sooner had the Goldies disappeared again and this female Hen Harrier was circling in front of me - awesome!

I'd missed an opportunity of getting a Pheasant photo on my way out so I made the effort to stop for this male with a couple of hens.

I stopped for my lunch and had a scan of the distant ridges to find 5 Golden Eagles flying together. There was an obvious pair, two adults that kept apart and a juvenile - good to see the interaction between them though with nobody stepping on anyones toes! I picked up an Otter next that drifted off quite quickly so I settled for the distant views and a scan about. There were plenty of Great Northern Diver, a smattering of Razorbill, a single Red-throated Diver and a few Red-breasted Merganser to keep the interest. I took a few snaps of a Herring Gull preening and managed to catch it in an odd pose.

Damage.

The temperatures are dropping and making it feel like winter at last but things are starting to change for the better too - the Oystercatchers are pairing up and displaying, the GN Divers are quite vocal, Lesser Celandine plants are starting to show, the list is endless. Despite this change times are still hard out there and occasionally you see something like this Common Buzzard.

I could be wrong but I think this bird may have been in a bit of a scrap and lost some feathers. It didn't seem to affect the birds ability to fly about so, hopefully, it's just a lesson learned. There were plenty of other birds in the same area with 6 Buzzard, 20 Hooded Crow, 12 Raven, 1 Golden Eagle and 1 Hen Harrier all seen in the air. Two unconcerned Song Thrush were poking about unaware of the action above.

I had a quick look for the Adders on Wednesday but had no luck. An afternoon of sit and wait paid off as I had a few views of 3 Golden Eagle and a female Hen Harrier. None of the views of the raptors were particularly close but that's just the way it is. A couple of Wrens were having a dispute while the eagles soared overhead.

A change of location and another view of a young Golden Eagle was a nice way to finish the day.

Thursday was an overcast day with a chilly wind. I was staking out a Golden Eagle in the morning but the bird had other ideas as it dropped behind the ridge it had been sitting on and never reappeared. I've not seen an Otter for a couple of days so I thought I should put a bit of effort in. It couldn't have been easier as I spotted this one making it's way to shore...

...looking for a nice place to eat it's lunch.

It couldn't have picked a better spot.