January 2016

A nice selection of images from January.

Common Buzzard on the shore.

 Collared Dove looking forward to spring.

 Cormorant drying it's wings.

 Grey Heron posing.

 Great Northern Diver with a crab.

 Goldcrest - stunning.

 Goosander in a flap.

 Iceland Gull at the hatchery.

 Jackdaw eyeing things up.

 This Knot was a good find in January.

 Little Auks were storm driven but soon moved back out to sea.

 Merlin is usually seen flying off so this sitter was a bit special.

 Plenty of Otter sightings...

 ...and a few cubs around too.

 A few flocks of Redwing are fairly easy to find this winter.

 The sun lights up the landscape as it sets - that's when you see the sun!

 A White-tailed Eagle on a dull day.

 This White-tailed Eagle landed next to the car - fantastic!

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.

2014

That's another year over and not much to report from yesterday except...a nice Glaucous Gull.

A lone Redwing was digging up the dirt at the side of the road...

...while a Mountain Hare loped across the grass before settling down for a nibble.

This WT Eagle was seen earlier in the day when it was still a bit dull. It was still there two hours later so I took a few snaps as there was more light.

Looks like the RB Merg is looking forward to the new year too.

Scores for the year list 145 species and the Patchwork Challenge finished up on 105 species and 131 points.

Bright

There has been a bit of a hold up on this post due to the poor internet connection. A two hour attempt got me as far as the log in page and I'm not sure if I will have to retype this post. If you remember dial-up, think that but way more unstable!!
One of the local WT Eagles had a rest stop on a skerry...

...before moving on to finish it's breakfast somewhere else. Just look at the difference in size to the Hooded Crow!!!

A run out to check on the geese was productive in some ways like this obliging Buzzard...

...but there no sign of the Greenland White-fronted Geese. A few of the Barnacle Geese were loafing in one field...

...while the Greylags were in another with a couple of Canada Geese.

There was no sign of the Fieldfare but there were a decent number of Redwing scattered across the area,

The Lapwings can do a good job of staying hidden over the winter so it always brightens your day when you get a good view of them.