Wag

It was nice to catch up with a Willow Warbler again - the song of this bird is always the sound of summer for me. No sooner had I published the last post where I mentioned the Greenshanks had moved on and there were three birds back on the loch! A pair of Grey Wagtails were getting frisky on one of the burns.

It was nice to catch up with the mum and cub Otters while they were reaping the rewards of a few Dogfish. They were seen to bring two ashore in about 20 minutes.

The Highland Cattle are always popular with the guests.

A few more Northern Wheatears are being seen now.

There was a decent breeze blowing while this Rock Pipit was trying to hang on to the fence.

Decent numbers of Linnets can be seen in various locations.

It was a bit of a struggle to get a good view of Golden Eagle until this one flew past the motor!

Similar

A couple of tours had fairly similar sightings so here is a selection of photos. The Red Deer are starting to drop their antlers so this sight will become less frequent over the next couple of weeks.

The WT Eagle sightings are good at the moment but then you can't have a bad sighting of one of these!

Crossbill sightings are a bit hit and miss but you can hear them calling and singing around the forestry.

The Otter is a slippery customer at times so it was nice to have distant views to start with and then a closer one. You have to mark your territory as you move around...

...and a shower is nice too.

There is a smattering of migrants coming through, Sand Martins have arrived from their winter quarters in Africa...

but there is also winter visitors that are back on their way north. The Redwings will probably be heading for Iceland.

Both days had rain at the time we went for Golden Eagle - a bit of patience required and the birds did show.

Along the shore there are quite a few Wheatear, lots of Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and Rock Pipit...

...while the wader numbers have dropped - very few Greenshank, small numbers of Ringed Plover and the Turnstones are on the move. Another change has been the reappearance of the Tawny Owl in the barn.

Threes

A day of few photos but a collection of birds seen in threes. We had three Whooper Swan, three Great Spotted Woodpecker and three Golden Eagle.

We'd started the day with good views of a WT Eagle and then another flying past us. A single Northern Wheatear was seen by the loch with a number of Meadow Pipits and a couple of Stonechat. Plenty of people say they see Golden Eagles at close quarters but this one took it to another level.

We had initially seen the birds drifting off only to see them fly towards us and circle above us. The big problem was when they disappeared again I left the camera in the motor and one of the birds did a fly past at about 10 yards!

We didn't see an Otter on the day but I gave plenty of advice to the guests and they managed to catch up with them the following day. I managed to get some sighting while out on an errand. A couple of Common Teal were nice to see with the male looking splendid.

A pair of Grey Wagtail were feeding along a burn.

A pair of Slavonian Grebe were dancing on the loch...

...while the Goosander were not going to hang around.

A Whooper Swan was a bit more obliging though.