Tuesday 27th
We’d left out some chicken remains last night and half had gone. The site owner had said there are pine martens nearby and he has also seen a wildcat!
Rain forecast so we drove on the Road to the Isles as far as Mallaig. Had lunch at the Fisherman’s Mission. The rain stopped. Didn’t spend much time in the town – I seem to be allergic to buildings when I’m on holiday and want to get back to the countryside!
We returned via the old road to Arisaig and took a detour to Rhu on a road we only discovered a few years ago. Lovely views over to Eigg & Rhum. Saw Slavonian grebe and a little grebe from the roadside.
We turned right off the main road down the side of Loch Eil then Loch Linnhe . The edge of the lochs looked promising for otter but by this time it was going dark.
Wednesday 28th
All the food left last night had gone – jam butties and an egg – broken into a dish this time so it couldn’t just be taken away whole.
Fort William today. We drove the long way round – retraced the drive from last night A861 south of Loch Eil then the Road to the Isles on the north of Loch Eil to Fort William. No otter seen. First stop was the distillery to replenish Bob’s stock of the Dew of Ben Nevis then left to do some shopping (shopping?! On holiday?!) with a promise to come back for lunch at the distillery. Shopping OK – shortbread & haggis! Oh, yes, and a lovely Celtic silver ring for me.
We all drove up Glen Nevis; Robert & Sharon left us at the Braveheart carpark as they wanted to do a bike ride from there that they’d seen in a bike magazine. Lots of fieldfare in the glen and a blackbird was sitting in a rowan tree seeing off all invaders – using more energy doing that than he would take in food! We listened to a bird singing – not a one I was familiar with and seemed to be coming from the bracken. As it came out at the top we saw it was a wren. But what a lovely song. Me & Bob drove to the carpark at the head of the glen and walked part of the way up the gully there. We were first back to the Braveheart carpark. The kids texted not to wait for them so we said we’d see them back at the chalet. As we were waiting for the Corran ferry we saw a drake eider.
The meal was ready when the others arrived back. They’d seen a peregrine so the only new bird for the list was the eider.
We put out jam butties and a whole egg for the pine marten tonight and watched all evening through a chink in the curtains. The egg vanished when nobody was on guard! After I’d been on guard for half an hour a black & white cat approached the food and went away again. Then I went for a shower and was called back because a big pine marten was there – it took some bread away – and I missed it. I settled down to watch again. But it appeared again shortly after and took some bread. This was the biggest one I’ve seen – we reckoned it was about 2’6” long – we worked this out by the size of the patio tiles it was standing on. It was a lovely mid-brown colour – not very dark – with the cream throat showing well.
Cont/..... (tomorrow).
[QUOTE=Sandra (Taylor);1650640]
We returned via the old road to Arisaig and took a detour to Rhu on a road we only discovered a few years ago. [/QUOTE]
This road is one of the best I know for both species of seal. Also looks good for Otter, although I have yet to see one here.
I will have to get the address of your cottage. The only Ardnamurchan Pine Martens I have seen have been crossing the road!
The coat on Pine Martens is lighter- and brighter coloured in winter, as well as having a pale underfur that shows through a bit cf Polecat.
In summer coat they can look very dark, almost blackish above. I've mostly seen them in winter coat though.
John