Tales From The Highlands

Day 3 - An Osprey A Day Keeps Depression Away ;)

  I woke before the alarm went off at 6.45am and was eager to get outside and see what the moth trap held.Due to the chill in the air last night I wasn't sure what to expect so was pleasantly surprised by the larger total than I had hoped for.The most numerous species was easily the Hebrew Characters with 12 of them making an appearance.
  Hebrew Characters

  The stars though were the 3 Brindled Beauties

  After potting all the moths and putting them to chill so they are a bit more docile when I try to photograph them later(this doesn't always work especially with these hardy Scottish versions lol) , I went to collect the trail cam.
  I had found a nest hole near the cabin so had placed the trail cam there with a few incentives for the as yet unknown inhabitants.The food was gone and the SD card had recorded 36 clips of video.I sat down to go through them.

  The neighbours were a trio of Wood Mice.Their eyes shining from reflecting the light from the moth trap.I finished checking the footage, then rechecked the weather forecast, heavy rain for Fort William so we decided to head to sunnier climes, The Cairngorms :)

  The drive to Abernethy Forest was mainly uneventful with just a skein of Greylag Geese flying over in their perfect "V" formation and a Song Thrush on a grass verge near Carrbridge.Today was the opening day of the RSPB Loch Garten Osprey Centre so it would've been rude not to attend.When we arrived both Ospreys, EJ and Odin were on the nest.We stayed for a couple of hours watching their behaviour and chatting to the RSPB staff.Odin kept bringing back large branches to renovate the nest and we also got to witness their 27th mating attempt so far.

  I was surprised that other people arriving to view the Ospreys only stayed for about 10 minutes before heading off again and one couple were asked of they would like to join the RSPB as they were not yet members, they snapped "We can't afford to do that!" 

  I think my monthly RSPB donation is actually a bit selfish of me as I pay them to protect birds and those birds make me feel better so I am really just paying to help my mental health ;)

  There were more than the Ospreys to watch with Chaffinches, Siskins, Coal Tits, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a Brambling around the feeders and Goldcrests around the car park.

  Great Spotted Woodpeckers

  Brambling

  Two Bank Voles were racing in and out of the undergrowth collecting the food displaced from the feeders.

  A cuteness of red appeared shimmying down a tree trunk to feast on the nuts.The beautifully tufted Red Squirrel was a joy to watch.

  After buying another two RSPB badges(a Hedgehog and a Bee) we left and headed to Aviemore for lunch.A coffee and Smiffy's chips later and we set off up to Glenmore Forest Park in hope of Crested Tits and Dippers.Unfortunately we "dipped" out on both but nature soon made up for it for as we left Aviemore something caught my eye and I shouted "Peregrine!" It was probably one of the residents from Craigellachie Nature Reserve and it was been harrassed by a determined Crow.

Checking the river for Dippers in Glenmore.

  We continued back to Roybridge where I spent the evening uploading photos from the cameras before releasing the now active again moths back into the night sky.

Raptor Watch Update - 

Buzzards - 10

Ospreys - 2

Peregrine - 1

Thanks again for reading.Hopefully more fun and wildlife to come tomorrow :)

30 Days Wild:Day 22 - Peregrines At The Bridge

                                                                   










  On Day 22 we had a few hours at the South coast of Pembrokeshire known as Green Bridge.Following tips and extra info on the area from fellow 30 Days Wild blogger Sandra Evans(catch up with her blog on the link below) and my friend and host John.
http://sands30dayswild.blogspot.co.uk/

  We had planned to go earlier but had to wait for the Military to let us in.It's a place where you have to call the visitor centre in Pembroke or the firing range to find out if it is open and safe to drive through the area without having your car blasted off the road by a Tank shell ;) We were told we would be safe from 4.30pm so off we went.It seemed quiet enough despite the presence of the Army personnel with M16 rifles.

 The site is called Green Bridge due to the natural limestone arch on the coast.

  The rest of this coastline isn't bad either ;)

  As you might be able to make out on the photo above there were thousands of seabirds, mainly Guillemots with a few Razorbills and the odd Puffin doing a fly by.
  Guillemots

  There were quite a few Butterflies on the wing with Small Heath, Painted Lady & a few Dark Green Fritillarys(pic below)

  In the distance something caught my eye and immediately I knew it was a Raptor.

  We hurried in that direction to hopefully get closer views and were treated with a fantastic display as a Male Peregrine circled us calling while his offspring was having his maiden flight from the nest. I told Majella I thought that was what was happening and fortunately we bumped into the monitor who was checking up on them and she confirmed I was correct(for a change).

  Back at base I also trapped some new Moths in the garden.
Yellow Barred

Lilac Beauty (my 1st ever)

Lobster Moth

Green Silver-lines

Marbled White Spot

 Add to this a Fox turning up on my trail cam in the garden and all the work John has done is paying off as his own personal Nature Reserve is producing amazing wildlife :)

  Tune in to Day 23 for Puffins on Skomer.

30 Days Wild:Day 13 - Sketches Flashback

  Well Day 13 turned out to be an unlucky day after all.Just work and then a trip to the emergency dental centre meant I didn't get to do anything wild except maybe scream like a Fox ;)

  Therefore I had to think of something "wild" that I could share and came up with showing a few of my old sketches that I used to do.A combination of lack of time and arthritis in my fingers has meant I don't try doing sketches anymore.The last one I did was this Great White Shark last Christmas for Majella's nephew as he is interested in Marine Biology and so now has that drawing framed on his wall, near to the Whales book I got signed for him by Mark Cawardine.

  A few more of my older sketches.
Peregrine

Brown Pelican

Giant Panda

These last two both took a while longer.This sketch of Waxwings was taken from one of my own photos after we had seen hundreds together on the Isle Of Skye.

  This last one I started as I wanted to do a sort of collage of wildlife from the place I want to visit most, Alaska. I am yet to get out of the UK at all to see other wildlife but still have hope that I will one day.

  If anyone has days when they cannot get out then maybe you too can try and do a wildlife sketch :) If you do then please feel free to post in the comments below to share the link to your artwork :)