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.

 

River Walks...........Day 6

 We awoke ready for a leisurely day. I pulled the curtain back a little(a great advantage being able to do this without having to get out of the bed 😉) and peered outside. I could already tell their was a chill in the air and the sparkling ground outside confirmed it. Majella turned over and hogged the duvet once more, so I decided to leave her in peace and get dressed and go out for a walk along the River Spean which winds it's way through the farmland.

 The river was lower than I expected but more exposed rocks meant for great vantage points for foraging Dippers. I had just started walking East along the river when the flash of white and brown flew in the opposite direction.I followed the flight to it's landing point and then crept closer keeping behind boulders and vegetation as to not disturb the Dipper.

 I got as close as I dare and stayed partially hidden by a large boulder watching the Dipper. It was quickly joined by a Grey Wagtail too(on the left of the 1st photo). Staying motionless I watched gleefully for around 10 minutes. Just me, the river and the birds.

 

 Both moved further downstream out of sight and my attention was turned to the loud trilling verses of a Wren. It was rapidly followed by the the song of a Robin. The Wren sang louder, appearing to try and outdo the Robin, the Robin not to be outdone once again belted out it's flutey melody.It was like listening to the battle round on The Voice, pure Heaven(not The Voice, the birds😁).

 I continued my walk up river examining the lichen and frost covered ferns. Beauty is to be found everywhere in the Natural World if you look close enough.

 Eventually starting to feel the cold I headed back to the cabin for a coffee. Majella was up as I'd unwittingly been on my walk for 2 hours. Now that she was ready to brave the cold we went for a short drive into Fort William and to Glen Nevis.

                         

 We parked up at the glen Nevis visitor centre and crossed the bridge to walk along the River Nevis. I liked how the light changed as the clear cold water ran over the pebbles in the shallows.

 The River Nevis has been a good place to spot more Dippers and Grey Wagtails in the past but not this time, we were however amazed at how many Song Thrushes were around as we rarely see them where we live. Majella's keen eye also spotted a distant Greenfinch on the river bank.

 These sheep had obviously heard the quote 'The grass is always greener on the other side' as they led a charge up and over this stone wall to get to the adjacent field.

 We arrived back at the car and decided to continue further up the Glen to the Lower Falls.

  

 Slow-mo video clip of Lower Falls, Glen Nevis.

 Leaving the Glen we parked at Morrisons in Fort William and walked across the road to the shore of Loch Linnhe. It was low tide so one of the best times to see Otters. Despite spending some good time here scanning the Loch and islands, no Otters were spotted. There were plenty of birds though with Goldeneye, Goosanders, Grey Herons, Hooded Crows, Herring, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls all in attendance.

 Majella enjoying the view across Loch Linnhe while searching for Otters.

 Our plan for the next day meant a long day so we went back to the cabin early and spent the late afternoon watching the garden birds.Chaffinches, Coal Tits,Great Tits, Blue Tits, Dunnocks, Robins, Blackbirds all pushing for superiority of the bird table.

Photographs by Stuart Pike & Majella Fox

Tomorrow we head for the Isle of Mull, a 2 hour drive and 2 ferries to get there.

Many thanks once again for your continued support of my blog. It's great that I am getting quite a view views each day 😊 It makes it worthwhile sharing our trip and hopefully gives someone ideas of where to visit if they travel to this glorious part of the UK.

More tomorrow from Mull.

 

 

 

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