A slightly condensed story in which I will attempt to summarize our stay on the peninsula in north west Scotland that ultimately leads to the western most point of our mainland.
We had a long but uneventful drive up before reaching the turn off at Glenfinnan, regular stops and sharing the driving eased the burden though and the last stretch heralded the usual excitement as our destination drew closer.
The roads on the peninsula are narrow and care must be taken, passing places must be used and the pace of travel slows in tune with the rhythms of life round here.
The lodge in which we spent our week was a delight with some splendid wildlife in the garden...a lovely red squirrel...
We stuck to local explorations and discovered a wood warbler in a local forest...
Buzzards were often seen, though few behaved as well for the camera as this one...
There were many smaller birds to enjoy on our expeditions, this female stonechat posed very nicely...
One creature we hoped to see was a pine marten, we dare not raise out hopes too high but they are making a good comeback from near extinction. Lucky for us our jam lure worked, unfortunately the jam smeared log in the garden was only licked clean during darkness!
The weather was holding pretty well for us, although a little grey it was at least dry and the waterproofs could be left in the car.
A couple of boat trips one each on Loch Sunart and Loch Shiel did not bring forth any spectacular wildlife sightings but the knowledgeable skippers taught us much about the history, geology and biology of this wild and remote area. Loch Sunart did bring us a lovely sighting of two shags...
We continued our patient searches for the wildlife we love to see...a male stonechat...
Deer were not too numerous for us but we did get one really close sighting...
Our pine marten appeared again, an animal that is largely nocturnal and it would be nigh on impossible to see them without the food lure.
A bird that make the heart beat faster just by its massive size is the white tailed sea eagle, we were lucky to be told of a nest location by a local who we had chatted to regularly.
With a wingspan well over two metres and beak and talons of massive proportions a close sighting is really impressive!
The vocabulary of the sedge warbler is wonderful, it took a combined effort from both of us for half an hour as we patiently tracked this little beauty until it showed itself!
Our walks in the quiet coves and beaches brought us some much needed peace, quiet and relaxation often accompanied by the splendid ringed plover...
And to finish the report, a gull but not just any gull....the common gull is now very uncommon, this one has managed to nest on a beached old boat...
We had a spectacular and memorable week, we saw so much it would take a week to compile a blog to include everything, we left feeling we had done a reasonably thorough exploration of this fabulous area. The midges were saw toothed when they discovered unprotected areas and we were glad to have scheduled our visit relatively early in the year!
All too soon it was time to pack the car again and head for the ferry from Kilchoan to Tobermory, Isle of Mull, we had another good journey and drove to the south near Fionnophort and another lovely location from where the next report will carry reports.
Many thanks to all who view, don't forget if you do comment they come to me first for moderation!
Fantastic photography in a beautiful part of the country ,,, loved the Pine Marten. Jill
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