Predictable

Predictably, with the good weather in June and July, August is going to be a wet month. It certainly keeps the number of photographs down and it can make the wildlife difficult to find. Most things have been seen on most days but the Otters have been the hardest to find. Just to show the conditions at their best here is a Red Deer stag looking happy with it's lot.

The juvenile WT Eagle has decided to take up residence around the lower parts of the conifers. It certainly makes for good viewing even when it's wet.

Even the adult bird that flew in looks bedraggled.

There appears to be a lot of small fish around the coast at the moment. The Mackerel are chasing these small fish so you see them all jump out of the water as they try to escape and it provides food for all the birds along the shore. You don't see Oystercatchers catching fish but they can do it!

Yet another WT Eagle photograph but it does show that they will fly in poor conditions.

Something to crow about

As this post is going out on the 12th August I'd just like to say that the two female and one male Hen Harrier that were seen today were a real treat.
We had a cracking view of an Otter having a real struggle to bring it's catch ashore. It wasn't until it reached a decent bit of shore that we got sight of the fighter - a cracking Lobster.

There have been plenty of Common Lizards hanging around...

...very close to the Adders. You would think the Adders would be picking them off.

Another good sighting this last week was the young WT Eagle taking one of it's first flights. I'm hoping that the secondary feathers are just naturally curled upwards and not some problem that the bird has.

The local Buzzard looked good in the morning light...

...while the Mink was nice to see but not so welcome.

A Carrion Crow has been loitering at the back of one of the fields for about a week now - one close view is all you need for a photo.

While visiting the Adder site the screaming of a House Martin alerted me to a passing bird of prey - Hen Harrier, fantastic!

Just as fantastic was the Song Thrush collecting food for it's young.

Shaggy

A bit of a damp start gave us some superb views of a very shaggy Raven - it's the new look, you know!

As the migrant birds head back to Africa the numbers dwindle for us so it was nice to come across a couple of Common Sandpipers - this will probably be my last photograph of this species until next year.

An Otter had been seen making it's way along the shore under the seaweed but it eventually hauled out on the rocks so we could get a better view. One of the adult WT Eagles was perched up in a conifer...

...while the youngster had finally fledged and was perched up not too far away.

A couple of birds that were seen to dive looked quite interesting so we hauled over and jumped out to find a couple of very smart looking Red-throated Divers - stunning!

A couple of Golden Eagles were found hunting the hillside. We watched one of the birds drop to the ground and when it took flight again it was carrying an Adder in it's beak!

After the Adder was demolished both birds flew around together - an impressive display.

A stop for ice cream proved useful as one of the guests picked up a Hen Harrier on the hunt. Nice views too.

Mountain Hare and Adder were seen at our last stop but the one that stole the show was the Dunlin in the stream.