A damp day to herald our return to a treasured and much visited Isle, we now know several good sites for wildlife so it was with much anticipation that we spent our first night in a lovely and comfortable cottage between Bunessan and Fionnophort in the south west.
As with the previous blog I will attempt a brief summary of our sightings...these lovely dunlin were our first beach sighting...
A brown hare is not what I expected in the sand dunes!
We thought at first that this was an otter sighting, it has been a while since we had live sightings...
It is in fact a female mink, confirmed by the appearance of the much smaller male...
Not native and not welcome, the sighting was reported to a local wildlife watcher who assured us the area was heavily trapped. We went to Iona as foot passengers, heard corncrakes and photographed a spotted flycatcher taking a break on a fence post...
Another day and patience and stealth was required to get a near water level close up of the enigmatic and beautiful great northern diver..
A calm and slightly misty early morning allowed me a reflective heron...
....and another near water level shot...a male eider duck...
A lengthy perusal of Loch na Keal....otters!
Unfortunately 70 metres+ away and impossible to get closer!
This nesting fulmar was photographed on Lunga, another fun and interesting boat trip! We also found a delightful wren...
Of course the reason for going to Lunga was puffins! Wonderful, photo friendly and photogenic beyond belief...what a delightful experience...
Another day, another boat trip and we enjoyed a full day as foot passengers to Iona. Peace and quiet and a feel of life in different times to be enjoyed here in the quiet bays away from the busy areas...
gannets dive....
Herons seem to pose well...
...and the corncrakes kept up their teasing....until we went into super patient mode! After much effort my first ever photograph!
Convinced we would get a better view we waited and waited and....
Oh my! how patience pays off...and luck!
Our last day and a favourite couple of locations, who knows what persistence and fortune would bring...
A hard bird to photograph well unless you wish to hike up steep hills with all your gear and wait all day to see potentially nothing is a golden eagle, we contented ourselves with some trusted information, great binocular views and a couple of long distance photographs...
We had some decent otter views during the day, on the way back down Loch Scridain for the last time on this visit we stopped at a favoured place. Dressed in very dark clothing and settled in some black rocks we sat for a while...waiting pays again....
The otter undoubtedly knew something was there but staying perfectly still works well, even with the shutter noise the otter was not too disturbed, just perfect...
And as if to provide a suitable last photograph...it did with a lovely silhouette as it returned to the sea.
A brilliant experience and a wonderful end to a special holiday.
Many thanks to all who view , don't forget if you do comment they come to me first for moderation.
Absolutely wonderful :-) Your patience was well and truly rewarded. Jill
ReplyDeleteFantastic Dave. You must have a lot of patience
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