22nd-29th September 2018
Scottish Adventure 2018
Part One - Highlands and Skye
Saturday September 22nd: I pulled the car over near Broomhill Station near Nethy Bridge to photograph these fungi. Fly agaric - they are somewhat toxic and, apparently, hallucinogenic. First photo shows initial stage in its development.
Sunday September 23rd: I found more the following day on a woodland walk.
First crossbills in the forest.
Up the Findhorn valley
Red kite silhouette
Red deer climbing up over the ridge.
The weather can change extraordinarily quickly up the valley. Bright sunshine gave way first to rainbows...
...and then to this!
Red grouse at Lochindorb - merlin seen also perched distantly on a rock at the roadside.
Monday September 24th: Driving to Skye and ultimately on to Uig to take the ferry to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris & Lewis. First things first however... We pressed on as roadworks on the road to Kyle of Lochalsh were likely to delay us. View from one brief stop.
At Kyle of Lochalsh I saw guillemots and black guillemots near the harbour.
A stop near Breakish on the Isle of Skye where we saw a good selection of waders plus twite...
...and a grey wagtail jumped over the wall...
...some hooded crows flew in quite close...
...and a distant Brent goose.
We drove on until eagles were seen near Sligachan. White-tailed eagles.
Golden eagle at the same location - but more distant.
One bird put on a fine display diving down behind a ridge then zooming back up into the sky. As if it wanted us to see how wonderful it is to be a golden eagle!
As we headed north-west we saw more hooded crows.
Crossing the Little Minch to Tarbert was generally quiet. I was lucky to see 2 storm petrels during the crossing but they were away before I even blinked! A gannet's progress was more leisurely!
