Cascades & Serenades..........Day 8

 After yesterday's exciting adventure we decided to have a more relaxed day today, so it is going to be a shorter, more wildlife free blogpost than previous ones. If you're concerned about the title, don't worry as it's not me doing the serenading 😂

 We had a little lie in and planned to spend the afternoon travelling just South of Fort William to Kinlochleven. While Majella was getting ready I had time to go out and have another chat with Georgie, Shadow & Neville.

 It's less than an hour from Roybridge down through Fort William to Kinlochleven and the last 15 minutes involves driving along the shore of Loch Leven to get to the East end of the loch where the village is.

 We parked up at the Ice Climbing centre and popped over the road where we had an enjoyable meal at the Highland Getaway Tavern and the headed for the Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall to walk it off.

Photo in Kinlochleven

 From the car park, it's only a short walk but does include a few steps. Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall can be seen through the trees as you follow the path down.

 About half way along the trail you reach the bridge over the brook, modelled here by Majella. From here the track turns left and just round the corner to the falls.

 The falls drop around 40 feet into an Alpine like gorge. You can see the cascading water well enough from the path but if you want a closer look at the abyss it requires some plank walking along the edge of the river. If you see the 4th photo of this sequence, you will see me stuck between a plank and a hard place(a rock). With my lessened mobility I couldn't reach the rock and then I couldn't turn around to come back up the plank. I felt a bit like a cat that had got himself stuck up in a tree, but Fire Brigade Marshall Majella came to my rescue and pulled me back 😂

Slow-mo video clip of the falls.

 On the way back, a separate trail heads right from the bridge and up the steep side of the hill to the top of the falls. We managed to get quite a way up the path but regretted every step lol For more adventurous people you can join the via ferrata climbing challenge up the waterfall.

View looking down on Kinlochleven.

 My knees had definitely had enough by now so we headed back down to the car. On the way back we were serenaded by a Robin. 

 A much shorter blog as promised 😉 and unfortunately no trail cam out tonight as it poured with rain all night.Tomorrow though will be back to searching for Scotland's amazing wildlife as we head to the windy wet West coast.

Photos by Stuart Pike & Majella Fox

Thank you to everyone who takes time out of their busy lives to have a quick browse of my blogs. I hope you find some of it interesting and maybe useful for your own trips.

 

The Journey Begins......Day 1

 It has been nearly 2 years since I did any blog whatsoever, mainly because I have barely left the house since 2020 and the arrival of the pandemic so it was so good to finally get back up to the Scottish Highlands to see wildlife, scenery and friends.

 Hopefully I will have time to blog daily about each day exploring Scotland and it's wealth of Flora and Fauna. We were originally supposed to spend a week on Skye and a week at our friend's farm in Glen Spean but late changes made, cancelled our 7 day trip to Skye in to a shorter 3 days along the Moray coast, before our Glen Spean week.

 Before we get to that point, there was the small issue of a 6hr drive from Lincolnshire up to our first overnight stop. To pass the time we played Motorway Raptorwatch 🦅😏 I always keep an eye out for Birds of Prey when we are out in the car so we decided to keep count of the numbers for each road section.

Raptor Count - 

M18 - 2 Buzzards

M62 - 1 Buzzard

A1 - 3 Buzzards & 2 Red Kites

M6 - 1 Buzzard

M74 - 6 Buzzards

M73 - 1 Buzzard

M80/M90 - 2 Buzzards

Not a Kestrel in sight but did see our first Hooded Crows of 2022 along the M74.

  Due to our late change in destination which meant travelling up to Elgin, we needed an overnight rest and so stopped in Kinross. Unfortunately Kinross is not as busy as it used to be as the very popular market and carboot was closed down years ago and along with it went some of the shops, but it still had the beauty of Loch Leven nearby and that is where we headed before the hotel.

 On arrival we were welcomed into the reserve by hundreds of Snowdrops and some beautifully painted Scottish wildlife steps.

  We made our way out on to the reserve and the viewing hides and were instantly rewarded with a stunning blue-skied vista and a flock of around 60 Curlew.

  The glorious collision of numerous honking calls alerted us to the arrival of thousands of Pink-footed Geese, first circling and then whiffling down into the field.

  Not wanting to be left out 3 Whooper Swans followed soon after, gliding down to their water skiing landing on to the Loch.

  Other birds seen on and around Loch Leven were Goldeneye, Pochard, Greylag Geese, Little Egret, Tufted Duck, Grey Heron, Great-crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Wigeon, Mute Swans, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Black-headed Gulls, Magpie, Robin, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinch, Lapwings, Mistle Thrush, Kestrel (finally) and a Sparrowhawk.

                                                         Little Egret

                                                         Little Grebe

                                                        Sparrowhawk

                                                       Lapwing roost

                                                       Greylag Goose

  

By this time it was very late afternoon and the light was starting to fade but it gave us some wonderful photo opportunities as the lowering Winter Sun glanced over the still waters of the loch.

  It was now late and time to turn into our hotel, the expensive Kinross Travelodge to rest up and prepare for the journey further North to the Moray coast.

Hope you can join us tomorrow to continue the journey with us.

Many thanks for taking the time out to browse the photos and read the blog.

Photos taken by Stuart Pike & Majella Fox.