We drove to the parking area by the loch and walked up the track. Soon after leaving the copse of trees behind we scanned the hills where we knew golden eagles were often seen and sure enough one appeared and soared on our side of the hill before vanishing over the other side. In the copse were goldcrest, coaltits, meadow pipits, chaffinch and a grey wagtail. Also saw a sparrowhawk and a kestrel.
Then to the loch where the rocks out in the water were exposed. Lots of seals loafing about. Saw curlew and shag. Then to Grasspoint – twite in the long grass. Looking out over the water –[ would it be the village of Lochdon?] there was a digger working and half a dozen guys in hi vis jackets and hard hats doing things with a tripod with a meter on the top. Looked like council or utility workers. A couple of men in suits. So maybe there’s a big build going on there. I’m sure that would disturb things as that far bank is usually quite a good place to see WTEs paddling about on the shoreline.
Four common scoter in the bay and two gannets flying around. Lovely weather today. Bright and sunny but cooler than of late. Saw lots of buzzards today. They were perching on fences and telegraph poles – maybe 7 or 8 in total in just a few miles. Love ‘em!
Ate the last of our picnic near the ferry crossing at Fishnish, on picnic tables, and scanning for otters.
A fallow deer was on the track as we neared the cottage.
Thursday 20th Both of us this time walked to the lochside at 8.00am. Visibility was very poor and it was drizzling. We could hardly see the stand of pines where we’d seen the eagle yesterday. We watched as a helicopter appeared from between the mountains, presumably going over to the fish hatchery on the lochside. I was just thinking to myself that that would disturb the birds, when over to the left a WTE flew from between the same hills. It came down to ground level and landed on the lochside. Visibility was better now and we watched it take off again. It rose quickly and after just a few flaps of its wings it was away and out of sight. Bob found two more birds high in the sky above the opposite ridge and these two came down below the horizon, showing dark against the tree lined hill with their white tails shining at us. A sparrowhawk settled briefly in a tree by the water’s edge. We’d earned our breakfast this morning!
We decided to drive south this morning – first of all on the Craignure road, calling at the mussell farm for a bag to take home with us. It was raining now. We continued through Glen More. When we got near Bunessan we took a minor road which we tootled along until it ended at a disused pier with very high cliffs visible nearby. Very wet still but no new birds – just buzzards and a kestrel. We returned by the scenic route. No otters seen but it wasn’t for want of trying.
Saw two tour buses down by the road that leads to Burgh (fossilised tree) but the people in them were just milling round and didn’t seem to be focusing on anything – otherwise we would have joined them!
On returning to the cottage we went down to the loch again. Two grey wagtails, a sparrowhawk and a dipper. The dipper was near where a burn runs past the cottage and into the loch and this was where the dog belonging to the estate owner had been attacked by an otter the day before. His ‘mum’ was taking him to the vet as we were returning home and said he’d come off worse. Had two nasty bites on his muzzle. The otter escaped up the burn.
Friday 21st Spent an hour at the lochside. No eagles. Very heavy rain for 15 mins. with mist almost down to ground level. Then it cleared and there was a blue sky and sunshine. Then to Salen where we parked up in the special area past the wrecked boats. Saw lots of seals out on a bank in the water then an otter floating on its back eating an eel – this was just off the small island. After 10 mins. it climbed over the rocks and preened and scratched iself. More people stopped and watched. After 10 mins. we left it in peace.
Then to the outskirts of Tobermoray, taking the road to Glengorm. Had some ‘hearty’ soup in the tea shop. Lots of buzzards around. We took the scenic route again from Dervaig (come to think ot it, every road on the island is scenic) to Salen. Soon after leaving Dervaig we again saw dozens of mistle thrushes. Must be lots of food for them in that area. Or lots of resting places. A peregrine approached from the right and flew over us.
Soon after joining the Salen road we had three female eiders in the loch on our left. Nearby a pair of wigeon were dabbling in the shallows with a curlew on the rocks.
On our return, we drove to Gruline House to make arrangements for next year (re-booked for a week in September but we can’t have the same cottage as that is going on a 2-year lease shortly). Her cottages are always fully booked April/May as there is so much activity from the white-tailed eagles in the whole area. We hadn’t seen Gruline House before and it was amazing – looked just like a castle! We drove to the back door, as befits our station, to conduct our business! But she says that’s the only door they use anyway. We had a long and interesting talk about the eagles.
A summary of sightings follows:
Loch Sunart: Cormorant Chaffinch Shag Buzzard Hoodies
Herring gull L/B/B gull
Loch na Keal: Grey wagtail Heron Kestrel Buzzard Oystercatcher
Meadow pipit Curlew Gannet R/B Merganser Swallow
Mallard House Martin Stonechat Greylag goose Teal
Little grebe Raven
Grass Point Gannet Chaffinch Twite Pied wagtails Tern sp.
Common scoter Buzzard
Loch Spelvie Mistle thrushes
Glenforsa Greylag geese
Dervaig Kestrel Greenshank Oystercatcher Stonechat Linnet
Peregrine Starling
Glen More Mistle thrush Buzzard Kestrel
Loch Ba Golden eagle Grey wagtail White-tailed eagle Chaffinch flock
Goldcrest Coal tit Meadow pipit Curlew
Sparrowhawk Kestrel Shag
Salen Wigeon Curlew Eider Mallard
(Sorry about all this mish-mash at the end. My Word doc. is quite neat in columns but it's thrown this rubbish out as I copied & pasted. My tab keys aren't working on here - gosh, I still have a lot to learn)
Sandra
