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

 

 

 

30 Days Wild: Day 20 - Bee-autiful

                                                                   

  For day 20 the idea was to spend the dull morning wandering around the shops in Milford Haven & Haverfordwest and then when the expected sunshine came head over to Strumble Head on the Pembrokeshire coast to look for Choughs.

  This is exactly what we did, minus the Choughs :( I was going to call this post "Not Choughed just to see a few Seals" but something happened later to make it a good day.

  It's always good to visit Strumble Head as it's one of my favourite places in Pembrokeshire.So this was the first time we had been and not seen a Chough.The birds we did see were Oystercatchers, Whitethroats, a Whinchat, Black-backed Gulls and Crows.

  Strumble Head and lighthouse

  Grey seals were in the bay.

  Watching seals and admiring the stunning scenery.

When we left the coast we headed back to Pembroke but instead of going home we decided to pop into Manor Wildlife Park for an hour.It is a small park near to Tenby and the main reason we went in was to see the 3 White Rhinos.

  While watching the Rhinos, Majella said she had seen something in a tree nearby.On closer inspection it turned out to be a swarm of Honey Bees.From a distance it looked like a Horse's head hanging from the tree.We watched it for a while as Bees arrived from their missions, landed on the outside of the swarm and proceeded to do the "Waggle Dance" It was a fantastic thing to watch as they dance to communicate to the rest of the swarm the directions of the food source they have found on their travels.

  After helping round up an escaped Rhino(that's why there were only 2 in the photos above ;)) it was time for home to watch England draw 0-0 against Slovakia and Wales beat Russia 3-0 and top the group above England lol

  Only 10 more days to put up with my daily blogs but please keep checking in and reading through them 

Thank you :) 

30 Days Wild:Day 11 - The Chimney Sweeper, the Damsel & The Colony Of Gulls

  I couldn't think of a good title so I have the above though it does sound like some fantasy adventure movie where the Chimney Sweeper saves the Damsel from the evil land of the Gulls ;)

  Anyways, I thought I would have the whole day to get out somewhere but it turned out to be a few hours of work first (til 3pm) so had to think of somewhere nearby to pop into for a "wild" walk.

  As we were near Lincoln we decided on the Whisby Nature Park.The first thing you hear once you get past the visitor centre is the deafening sound of the Black-headed Gull colony.I gave up counting Gulls once I got past 600 lol with around 50% of them chicks.

  

  Some strange new species were being hatched like this Push-Me-Pull-You Gull ;)

  A quick check of the feeding station only produced a couple of Great Tits but also this Brown Rat.I know some people don't like them but I think they're kind of cute :)

  I stood watching and enjoying been serenaded by this Robin.

  The hedgerows and ditch vegetation were alive with hundreds of Damselflies, Moths, Bees and Dragonflies.

 Chimney Sweeper Moth

  Common Blue Damselflies(photos by Majella Fox)

  Large Red Damselfly(photo by Majella Fox)

  Female Black-tailed Skimmer

  Bee watching(photos by Majella Fox)

  Somehow among the Gull colony that had pretty much taken over the islands and the rafts, Common Terns were still managing to breed among the mayhem.

  I also saw Bullfinches, heard a Blackcap(even with my limited hearing) as it was that close but could still not see it through the foliage and a couple of Song Thrushes.

  If you are ever around the Lincoln area then its a great place to check out.You can easily spend the whole day there with such a massive area to explore and it's a good place to see and hear Nightingales.We didn't see them this time but have done on previous visits.

http://www.naturalworldcentre.co.uk/

  Thanks for staying with us til Day 11 and reading and looking at the photos.Lots more to come.