Otterly Exciting......Day 4

 To satisfy Majella for the day we just spent the morning in Elgin browsing the shops and getting lunch before heading to Aberlour so we could walk to the Linn Falls.

It was only a half hour drive and it was apparently a gentle walk along the river to the Falls.Parking on the high street we soon found the 'path to the falls' sign. We were only 5 minutes up the trail when the unmistakable white bobbing bib caught my eye. One of my favourite birds, a Dipper sat bobbing and preening on a rock in the river.

 

 What a great start to the walk. It continued to get even better when we unknowingly spooked a Buzzard from it's perch and it flew off between the trees. A little further and we came across this weir.

 Less than 15 minutes later and we were stood at Linn Falls, nothing to be heard except for the sound of the rushing water.

 We just stood in silence, watching the cascading water and searching for Grey Wagtails.

 The slopes around the river were covered with Common Butterbur plants.

 We stayed for a while until another person arrived and decided to leave them to appreciate the peacefulness of this place undisturbed. Soon we were nearing the end of the trail and the path on to the high street, when suddenly I noticed movement under the opposite bank. At first I thought it could be a mink but it reappeared and we were presented with a glorious view of an Otter. She slinked out from under the bank, scent marked a large rock and then made her way downstream. We followed closely behind as she had not taken any notice of us as she slipped in and out of the water.

 We followed, enthralled by her presence for a few minutes until she dived into a deeper section of the river and vanished from sight.

 Majella and I turned to face each other, both gobsmacked and grinning like Cheshire cats.A totally unexpected and mesmerising wildlife encounter.

 We left Aberlour and headed back North towards Elgin.Instead of calling it a day we continued on up to the coast again, this time to a place we'd never been before, Lossiemouth.I had only ever seen it in photos with it's bridge crossing the river to access the dunes and beach. Unfortunately the bridge was now unstable and closed to the public while a new bridge was being built.Unable to cross to the sands we stood and marveled at the amount of bird life along the coastal river. 

 Hundreds of Gulls were joined by Oystercatchers, Wigeon, Grey Herons, Curlew and Goosanders. 

 Ps If any Gull experts want to zoom in on the photos and see if there are any rarities among them all, please do 😉

                         

 Video clip by Majella showing the gathering of birds along the water.

 Photographs of Lossiemouth.

 Finally giving in to our hunger we ended our walk and drove back to our hotel in Elgin for a meal and to reminisce about the earlier breath-taking mammal encounter.

Thanks to all who have taking the time to read through my blog and browse at the many photographs.

Tomorrow we head South to different accommodation on a farm in Glen Spean.

Photos by Stuart Pike & Majella Fox

 

 

 

Along the Moray Coast......Day 3

 Today's plan was to head West along the A96 to Nairn and then make our way back along the coast, past Elgin to Spey Bay to see what we could find on the water.

 We arrived at Nairn early in the morning as the incoming tide was already concealing the majority of the stoney beach. Hooded Crows were foraging among the rocks and washed up seaweed.

 A Rock Pipit appeared from out of it's camouflaged place among the stones and flew up to greet us on the pier wall.

 Back down on the beach a flock of around 20 Redshanks and 10 Oystercatchers rested but were continually disturbed by the waves of the encroaching tide.  

 The Redshanks were only able to rest their heads under their wings for seconds at a time before another deepening wave annoyed them and caused them to move a few more inches up their rapdily disappearing sanctuary.

 Video clip of the Redshanks trying to keep ahead of the tide.Filmed by Majella.

 A small group of Turnstones briefly joined the increasingly crowded, shrinking beach before joining us up on the pier out of reach of the surf.

 We left the flock to battle with the inevitable tide and walked along the pier to scan the Moray Firth for Sea Ducks.

 Photo by Peter Moore.

 Pale-Bellied Brent Geese flew East, their wing tips scarcely above the undulating water surface.

 Through the scope, scanning of the water revealed distant rafts of Ducks with the wonderful Black Isle as a backdrop. Common Eiders, Common Scoters, Red-Breasted Mergansers and some stunning Long-Tailed Ducks calling out across the deep water. Unfortunately all too distant for photographs but we were immensely happy to have seen them none the less.

 

 We left Nairn after an enjoyable 3 hours of birding and relaxing to the sound of the waves and headed back East and in to Findhorn Bay.

 Findhorn Bay was also alive with the sounds of calling waterfowl.More Redshanks, Curlew and dozens of Pintail Ducks all along the shoreline.

 It was only a brief visit to Findhorn as the wind seemed to becoming more Arctic by the minute so we warmed back up in the car and made our way to Spey Bay.

 Spey Bay is most notable for the WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre but today the conditions were not favourable for Dolphin sightings.We stood on the shingle beach for a while gazing out across the Firth. A flock of small birds flew past and landed further up the shingle, it was a group of Linnets. We just managed to get the binoculars on them and identify them before another person with a loose dog many yards away from her disturbed them, making them move on and unnecessarily use up more energy.

 Moving out of the wind we had a short walk along the Spey River. As well as a large congregation of Gulls there were also numerous Goldeneye and Goosanders.

 Song Thrushes, Robins and Dunnocks were hopping among the gorse and another group of Curlew had been joined by a few Greylag Geese in an adjacent field.There was still some daylight left so instead or returning straight to our hotel in Elgin(another expensive Travelodge) we followed the coastal road through Portgordon to Buckie.

 On the way we spotted more Gulls, Herring, Black-headed & Great Black-backed, as well as Wigeon, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Grey Herons, Mallards and a couple of Buzzards.A wonderful long birding day completed, it was time to head indoors for some shuteye and decide on our destination for tomorrow.

Thanks as always for taking the time to view my blog. It is very much appreciated.

If you do enjoy it then please leave a comment so I know that at least one person has read it ;) lol 

More Scottish wildlife to come tomorrow.