Scotland 2020 - Day 2 - Curiosity Caught The Cat(on Cam)

  After the 10 hour drive up yesterday we didn't go far today and just stayed in the Fort William area and on the farm. After checking for the tide times we were able to do a bit of shopping before heading to a spot on the Loch Linnhe shoreline at low tide where we have viewed Otters on numerous occasions.

  Unfortunately no mammals this time but plenty of bird life with a Rock Pipit on the stony shore and rafts of Goosanders, Goldeneye and Gulls on the water.

  Goldeneye.

  

  The wind chill meant we stayed for less time than we planned so returned to the car and headed down Glen Nevis.Due to the return of the pouring rain we decided against a walk along the river and drove down the Glen.

  Hooded Crow in the gloomy Glen Nevis.

  Glen Nevis in which Harry Potter fans may know Hagrid's Hut was located.

  We headed back to the farm and caught up with the resident animals.

  My favourite boy, Tug.

  New boy and trouble maker ;), Shadow.

  The Sheep are always welcoming too lol

  

  I had a leisurely walk along the Spean River which runs through the farmland.It had been swollen by the recent rain and snow hiding the rocks I can usually sit down on but surprisingly I still saw a Dipper fly by me heading upstream.

                             

  Back indoors I now had time to check out the trail cam I had placed in the garden the night before.The only food I had put out were apples and peanuts in hope of the local Red Deer coming into the garden again as in previous visits.

  My trail camera is getting very old so no longer immune to the Scottish weather and so the first footage was a bit mysterious.

  Name the mammal....

                             

  

  No, it wasn't this one ;)  The first clear footage of the early hours caught this curious feline checking out the food on offer.

                             

                             

  A Scottish Wildcat?? I think it may be the same individual that I also caught on film around the same time the previous year.At the time it was suggested it was most likely a Hybrid.Hybridisation with domestic Cats is one of the biggest threats to the true Scottish Wildcat population.

  You can learn more about the Scotland Tigers on the Scottish Wildcat Action website below.

http://www.scottishwildcataction.org 

  The Wildcat wasn't the only mammal to visit last night.The answer to the first mysterious footage became clear around 5.30am.The peanut fancier, a Pine Marten.

                             

                             

                             

  This was the first time I had actually seen a Pine Marten on camera at the farm in 15 years of visiting.It meant there may be some long nights ahead in hope of catching a live sighting of this elusive Mustelid.

Day 3 coming tomorrow as we head West to the Cairngorms.

Many thanks for reading and watching the clips. :) 

  

Tales From The Highlands

Day 2 - Gondolas & Greenshanks

  After yesterdays epic 12hr journey I decided to let Majella have a deserved lie in.Opening the curtains I saw that the Chaffinches were down taking advantage of the food I put out last night.A flock of Meadow Pipits danced around the field outside our window and a Buzzard soared over the hill top.
  Tug and Georgie popped over to say Hi  and I rewarded them with half a carrot each.
Georgie

  My mate Tug, we go back years :)

  The sun was out and I could see snow on the distant mountains so we headed over to the Nevis Range.Due to my obvious problems I can no longer hike up mountains so we cheated and got on the Gondola to take us up Aonach Mor.

 A quick walk along the trail to look at the view down to Fort William also gave us the opportunity to watch a couple of Skylarks.

  We then headed back down and home for lunch to recharge the batteries of both the cameras and myself.
  After lunch I walked around the farm photographing a few of the new additions.
Mother Hen and her new brood.

  The 2 new lambs on the farm.

  A couple of Chaffinches were still attending the bird table and the Meadow Pipit flock continued to forage in the field.
  I decided to check the tide times for Fort William and after reading that the low tide was at 5.55pm we decided to head back into town late afternoon to a place where we have watched Otters before.When we arrived the tide was already low enough to expose the central islands.Black-headed, Black-backed and Herring Gulls were numerous.A Grey Heron fished from from one of the islands and 20+ Goldeneye were dotted around the sea loch with a few of the males displaying by throwing their heads back and calling.As we waited for the elusive Otter a Greenshank flew over and landed on the far shore.Unfortunately the elusive Otter stayed elusive lol but hopefully we will get the chance to try again.
  Looking for Otters on Loch Linnhe.

  Back at the cabin I set up the moth trap and trail cam and then we settled in for a game of drunk Jenga :)

  Join us again to see what wildlife we manage to find tomorrow.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

Stuart