Slow

After dropping off some guests to watch 3 Otters I had to get the last of the guests to join in the fun. We all managed to get good views of them before they headed further away.

Next on the list was a male Hen Harrier coming across the loch...

...and then we were straight in with another three Otters! A visit to the WT Eagle nest gave us the bird on the nest plus the other adult flying off. No sooner had the flying bird disappeared when a juvenile WT Eagle flew over the top of us.

After the blistering start the day slowed down a bit as the temperature tried to rise. We still picked up a good herd of Red Deer stags, Common Seals, 3 Golden Eagle, a couple of Hen Harrier and an Adder. At one of the stops I had just finished explaining why it wasn't a good place to see Otters when something slid into the water...it looked like an Otter as it swam across the water but it was too small. The biggest giveaway was the gulls getting upset by the presence of this mustelid, they were continually dive-bombing, and we realised it was a Mink!

We had a nice time watching the Lapwings displaying but we missed out on Mountain Hare. A quick run out in the evening produced a couple of Short-eared Owl. A nice way to finish the day.

Fingals fury.

A little bit of a tale to tell...you do the usual wandering around looking for something to point the camera at and sometimes you find something quick and other times it can take some time. Half a day of looking had produced very little until three Otter were spotted on a rock close to the road.

A few people stopped to have a look but the Otters were quite happy to carry on with the business at hand. I don't think there was anyone there when a young White-tailed Eagle flew over looking at the Otters.

This was not that far away from the RSPB watch point for the WT Eagles Fingal and Iona - I'm sure a few people will know of them. Anyway, it wasn't too long before an adult WT Eagle came across to have a look.

A Buzzard came out of the trees at pace being harassed by a Hooded Crow...

...and the Otter decided it was time to move along. The Hooded Crows always look like they are keeping their eyes open for a bit of mischief but they will always tell you if there is something dangerous about.

They seemed a bit edgy and it was because the young WT Eagle was perched up in a tree near the road.

The Otters disturbed a Grey Heron from it's fishing spot...

...and the young WT Eagle took to the air again and got mobbed by a Buzzard.

This bit of action attracted the attention of the adult WT Eagle. The youngster landed in a tree and Fingal, the adult male, landed in the same tree but just above the youngster. Fingal had let out a few calls as he came in so you could tell he wasn't best pleased with the young bird being around. About twenty minutes later Fingal must have decided he had to vent his fury as both birds exploded from the trees with the young bird giving off feeble squeaking calls, perhaps trying to placate the adult. Fingal was having none of this and the youngster had no choice but to defend itself by showing the talons.

Fingal was in like a flash to lock on to the young bird and they tumbled in the sky.

You could hear the wind rushing through the wings as they fell but they parted just as quick as they had locked - it was over in seconds. The adult bird ushered the youngster away by flying underneath it so the young bird had no choice of where to go - what an experience that was!

Small bones.

At the end of March the Patchwork Challenge stood at  73 species, 91 points with a mere 5 new birds.
April started with a bang as a scarce bird put in an appearance - Tufted Duck! Only one point for that:-(

It may be small bones to most people but it's certainly 'patch gold' for me whereas Great Northern Diver is small bones up here but at least you get a couple of point for it.

Anyway, the tour was a cracker. In the first hour and a half we had WT Eagle, my first Northern Wheater of the year, 3 Hen Harrier (2male, 1 female), 2 Golden Eagle and another female HH before we came across the duck and the diver. I didn't take any shots of the 3 Otters as the Tuftie was more important;-) A herd of about 30 Red Deer stags was well received - a few of the stags had dropped their antlers. A busy Redshank was watched for a wee while...

...before we found another WT Eagle sitting on a hillside but it took flight and gave us a fly past - excellent. There were still reasonable numbers of Golden Plover in the fields and more good views of a small number of Reed Bunting.

Rock Dove - 'It's just a pigeon' and you won't see any great effort to save the species as the inevitable wave of Feral Pigeons will breed with these smart looking birds and we will end up with the 'flying rats' that everyone loves.

I see a few more of these birds every year - more small bones methinks.

A superb finish to the day as we had close views of a Redwing, the usual views of Lapwing...

...another 3 Otters in the loch and six WT Eagle flying together over the ridge!