It did not rain all
day! From Grantown we headed north-west stopping for fuel at a tiny petrol station in Carr-Bridge where there were no Dippers on the river before continuing up to Inverness, across the Kessock Bridge (memories of adult Ivory Gull in July 1995) and then on the high road over towards Gairloch.
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| Carr-Bridge |
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| Best sign ever |
It was a perfect choice and the
first part of the journey north gave us many Red Kites and even two Ospreys at
Maryburgh before we veered inland.
An adult Golden
Eagle was found with Buzzards in attendance and even circled long enough for us
to pull over and get out while down the road at Loch Glascarnoch we marvelled
at the post glacial landscape and the gleaming Black Throated Diver on the
glassy surface.
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| Loch Glascarnoch |
Small Pearl
Bordered Fritillaries became our first butterfly along with Fox and Eggar moth cats and there were two Sundew
species and Butterworts too. We even found evidence of Water Voles!
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| Lousewort |
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| Sphagnum |
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| Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary |
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| Round Leaved Sundew |
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| Greater Butterwort |
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| Oblong Leaved Sundew |
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| Water Vole latrine |
On again with our
first Red-breasted Merganser on Loch Droma and another pair along with a synchronised Black
Throated Diver duo on the low tide of Little Loch Broom where Greenshanks scurried
around the margins with bill tips in the water. The saltmarsh was full of
flowering thrift and very plump lambs...
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| Loch Droma |
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| Loch Broom |
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| Going for Northern Marsh Orchid on this one |
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| Little Loch Broom |
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| Viola tricolor |
We wiggled down
through an increasingly dramatic landacape; in fact so wondrous as to to feel
like it surely could not be in our own United Kingdom. It was so encouraging to
see so many fenced off regeneration areas. Perhaps there is a little hope?
Lunch opposite
Gruinard Island gave us a pair of Hen Harriers, Black Guillemots, Red-throated
Diver, Arctic Terns across the sound, and three foreboding Bonxies giving the
Gulls behind a fishing boat a hard time.
Heath Fragrant Orchids were close enough to be sniffed this time and two rather plump Harbour Seals were loafing below us as we had our lunch in increasingly chilly, windy conditions.
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| Downlooker Snipe Fly - Rhagio scolopaceus |
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| Harbour Seals |
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| Heath Fragrant Orchid |
We dropped down
into Aultbea to scan for Eagles and found a roof with a party of beautifully
pristine Rock Doves lounging on the tiles. So clean and sharp and the first
'proper' ones anyone else had seen.
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| Rock Doves |
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| Rock Doves |
A pair of adult
White Tailed Eagles were soon picked up and we watched them cruising around
effortlessly for over 30 minutes with barely a flick of their wings. The wind was fierce
but they faced into it and made headway without trying before being swept back
towards the coast where the first ridge invisibly baulked their progress.
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| White Tailed Eagles |
Eventually they
turned with the wind and hurtled towards the village upsetting the Hooded
Crows, where the male did the decent thing and came straight towards and past
us to much crew delight.
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| White Tailed Eagle - Andy Reid |
A male Wheatear
came to perched alongside us but failed to outshine the Eagle.
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| Wheatear - Pete Osgood |
The now fierce wind
stymied the journey back and our attempts at Dragonflying around Loch Maree
were fruitless but we did have a grand day out and the mountains became more
dramatic and pointy with curious lenticular cloudscapes forming above them.
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| Loch Maree and its Caladonian forest remnants safe on the large islands |
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| I am not even going to guess... happy for opinions! |
More Kites were
seen on the latter half of the journey back and two Honey Buzzards circled over
the A9 but we could not stop. There is a glorious sky this evening but I hope
the wind drops for tomorrow.
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