A week near Kenmore by Loch Torridon

A confession..after the early to bed and and early (5.00am) start to to the transfer day, I realised most of the way towards the ferry that my camera battery charger was still plugged in North Uist, whoops!

Trying to source a new one as we drove down the Isle of Skye was fruitless, I tried switching my laptop on at a free wifi point, that was dead too:-(( I knew all my photos were safe though, good backup strategy is vital!

Our cottage for the week.........http://www.lochtorridon.co.uk/index.htm

Craig Cottage in a beautiful sheltered bay on the Applecross peninsula, to the north on Loch Torridon.

Unpacked and tired we settled down with a glass of something tasty, we soon had a taste of what the week would offer..

The pine marten seemed pleased to see us, it was important to keep behind the double glazed doors though, one scent of a human and they are off! What a great start to the second week...

On Sunday we ventured up a small hill, A Bairol is its name and it rises a stately 175m from sea level..

A view of the cottage from the top..

And a rare view of us too:-))

The hills behind are the Torridon giants, more later..

Later in the day we had quite a special visitor again on the decking...

The next day we had a drive round to iconic village of Applecross, with the number of tourists here maybe because of the name we had an immediate dislike, but we found a short walk that yielded a part fossilized tree..

And a nice river view...

And later we had our lovely visitor.....

Another day, more things to see....a black throated diver...

And a rusty old boat .................:-))

We found house martins:-))

And one of the family of pine martens visited again...

Next day a chaffinch appeared  on a fence post..

The siskins on the feeders kept eluding me:-((

And then a wonderful otter spot in nearby bay....

Arctic terns taking a rare break, one is young one...

As the week went on we had one no marten show:-(( But views on on our very short drives made up for it!

Red breasted mergansers made occasional appearances:-))

And our friend the wood mouse kept us entertained:-))

Beinn Alligin looked superb..

An otter appeared almost by magic..

A memorable experience indeed!

What a great start to our last day, a short drive and we found a lovely close look at a razorbill..

And a hunting heron with a prize..

We found a redpoll...

Our last day should be special, a buzzard hanging like kestrel was good...

The view up Loch Torridon was good...

What I think is Liathach would have been a target a few years ago:-))

And the wee wood mouse kept appearing...

A willow warbler nearly sang me to sleep:-))

And the gorgeous pine marten appeared as if to say goodbye........

What a brilliant memory to carry in the mind on the way home, a long journey but sometimes we travel into our souls  to search out what there is in life that enthuses us, this two and a bit week holiday certainly topped our enthusiasm levels up!! Cheers and thanks to all who read and look, it makes the work in doing the blog very worthwhile.

14th/15th May North Uist owls & coastal walks

They say places burn into your soul when you find a location that suits you, North Uist has burned deep into me already! The field at the side of our cottage yielded a lovely lapwing shot...

Whooper swans on a nearby lochan were well worthwhile spending a few minutes...

A female wheatear drew the eye...

The sight of a short eared owl hunting is entrancing, the last shot shows just how flat their face is...

We were heading for Stinky Bay on Benbecula, seaweed is harvested and left in smelly piles, as it degenerates it becomes useable for lots of things. For us it was simply stinky!

Soon a turnstone posed nicely:-))

Stinky Bay offers fantastic views too...

Arctic terns were on the lookout for sand eels....

Checking the sea I found a great northern diver, the largest bird of its kind that we see, the bill is very dagger like!

A lengthy perusal revealed little else and we set off home northwards, an alert from Mrs Wildlife for a heron..a favourite of mine...

Probably not the these red deer:-))

We where now on route to a location advised from 300 miles away, near home. A snowy owl had been spotted on the isle, evidently it visits often but is easily disturbed.

On the ferry we had met up with, and befriended, a group on a nature tour, our first location for the owl and they were there, scopes out and a no owl show. Research had told me, confirmed the day before by a local, that another nearby spot could be likely.

Wow, a stunning bird and the group turned up a little later and were extremely grateful for the shared knowledge. Isn't that how it should be amongst like minded and responsible people?

Sat in our comfy cottage the sky drew attention, much to my lazy discomfort..

Wednesday, otter watching with the RSPB team.......

On the way we spot red deer..

And a redshank...

The loch looked fine as we searched fruitlessly for otters, hey ho another day:-))

As we searched through the scopes and binocs we had decent views of golden and white tailed eagles, fine compensation!


We set off for a walk round our local coast, a lovely snipe appeared briefly...

A fierce wind meant pix were few but....

A pied wagtail..

A head on ringed plover as we battled through the fierce coastal wind..

The scenery up around Hougharry Bay is rather good:-))

And I get an oystercatcher auditioning for the Ministry of Silly Walks!

And finally a wheatear in the fields, super little bird.....super couple of days:-)))