Short-eared owls and Adder

Great to see shorties on Uist and on Mull!
Also this year on a regular walk from Fidden Farm near Fionnphort on Mull - the dog was merrily bouncing in a ditch at the side of the road when we heard a plopping sound and Simon noticed an adder drop into the water seeking the dumb, oblivious dog.  We managed to get dog our of the water and grab a few shots of a beautiful adder.

Berneray Otter ; White tailed eagle Benbecular; dolphin near Iona

Summer migration 2016: Cornwall to Outer Hebrides

We have just returned to reality and the promise of a long long academic term ahead after our annual summer migration.  This year saw us spending three weeks down in Cornwall via Exmoor each way and then north to Outer Hebrides - Berneray, Uists via Kielder Forest, Cairngorms, Applecross and Skye and then back via Raasay and Arisaig before a final lovely week on Mull.


We have had all kinds of weather including dreadful rain and storms with gusting winds of up to 60 mph.


Mainly what stands out for us this summer is the many wonderful people we have met along the way.  Most notably the craic at the Bernaray Hostel (as usual!)  This time we were joined by Davey and his young son Stevie from Dunfermline, a reet pair of characters! Also Becky and Brett a couple of young pals from Oxfordshire with a great sense of humour, Welsh sisters from Carnarvon who were inspirational -cycling all through outer Hebrides and keen kayakers and mountaineers as well.  A lovely chap who was making his 3rd attempt to get to St Kilda (We so hope he made it this time)  Also a fab Dutch couple who shared our love of cheese, wine and wildlife.


Also down at Kilbride Campsite on South Uist so many stalwarts who all helped each other and us through the storm of the summer.


Finally, on Mull, the awesome Fidden Farm Friends: Caroline, Jill, Davina and Michael who were so open and quick to invite us for drinks and shared stories of wildlife encounters and travels.-  We really enjoyed meeting you all- so funny and easy-going- we hope you chaps enjoyed the remainder of the summer.


Secondly the wildlife was fairly awesome in terms of the range of species we were privileged to see.  


A basic list would include: otters, white tailed eagles, golden eagles, slow worms, a fox, mountain hares, short eared owls, bats, adder, red deer, roe deer, bottlenose dolphins, porpoise, seals, sail by the winds, peregrines.  Pretty awesome!


To start the photo roll call some starlings for sister, Dr Jess Walkup -Base Leader at Halley Research Station, Antarctica - who did her doctorate research on these chatty bright little birds and may be missing them now she has been in the frozen south so long.

Frisky pine martens caught on camera trap

Hilarious pine marten pair captured using the camera trap. 

Pine Marten mania in Applecross

Well mania for us because we are so happy to see them though I guess, not so much for the crofters trying to keep their ducks, chickens safe from these cute looking yet wily predators.
The new camera trap came into its own, capturing pine martens all through the night and one morning (having joked about wanting to get two on film........mating!) Lo and behold a saucy pair playfully chasing each other and leaping on one another.  So cool - though I doubt mating for real at this time of year?  Need to check a bit about them but from what I've read they appear to breed at the same time of year and the male doesn't stay around.  Also the young don't seem to stay with mother as long as the otter young do.  Not really sure why these particularly two were together- they came along around 4ish each morning.  We also watched a single marten at about 10 pm one evening and then a second came out but they were really cautious of each other - one hiding and then the other eating and being spooked and hiding and the other coming back. Their behaviour was so different to the 4 am-ers that they must have been different individuals. (based completely on what we thought we could observe and nothing at all scientific)