V for Victory a brief but glorious Hen Harrier sighting

Thrilled to spot a young Hen Harrier yesterday. In our own backyard - we haven't seen on for quite a few years. Pictures id'ed it for sure but not going to win wildlife photographer of the year with 'em.

Otter bonanza at Applecross

We have just returned from a superb two and half weeks in Scotland. A difficult first week camping at Fidden Farm on Mull which ended prematurely when a freak gust took down both our tents (broken poles) We managed to save the holiday from complete disaster when Island Castaways Charity Shop at Craignure came up trumps with a Wynnster Shrike 6 tent for a fiver - which looked almost new when we pitched it in Applecross and began our holiday over in our favourite place on earth! The amazing weather afforded us plenty of opportunities for rock pooling, walking and antler scavenging. It is just the right time of year to find recently shed red deer antlers and we lucked out finding two; though when I held them up to see whether they could be displayed as a pair I was disappointed by the comical effect of one going up and one down -sort of cartoon moose style!! One big stag near the campsite with at least 8 points refused to shed while we were there- he was lucky we didn't sneak up on him in the night to give his beautiful set a few tugs- I'm talking antlers here you understand!! This year we added to our pastimes of wildlife watching and photography by taking a kayak. Lots of fun to be had at Toscaig in millpond conditions. Sadly the plan for us both to go off in it with the dog sitting in the stern didn't work out as she immediately jumped "ship" and ended up sitting on seaweed with lead still attached, barking as we set sail. Eventually I had to be dropped off to care for the salty land lubbin' sea dog while the other salty sea dog, Simon, left for distant shores. At Toscaig we also had terrific otter sightings, some very close but all fascinating in terms of increasing our understanding of their behaviours. The best situation came when we thought the otter had headed holt-wards at end of long few hours hunting. Simon decided to take the mutt out for a much deserved walk along the shore. I stayed on the pier to preview some of my snaps. At one point I took a peek at them through the bins only to recognise our otter pal still snorkelling for crabs in the shallows just ahead of them on the shore line. I watched as man/dog came near otter and as man noticed the otter he stopped and began snapping. The otter then noticed man/dog and decided to take a closer look at them. It was incredible how brave the otter seemed-curiosity triumphing fear. THEN I remembered that this was no ordinary otter, this was almost certainly Conga Killer Otter, from last year!!!! Simon was snapping away happily and I was snapping him snapping and then suddenly the otter was emerging right over Kyra's shoulder. It was incredible and quite hilarious- for about a minute -then I heard a frantic half scream from Simon "Kyra- GET OUT OF THE WATER, GET OUT OF THE WATER NOW!!!!" Once we were all safe and drinking pints of Guinness outside the Inn, looking at the hilarious pictures Simon had taken of the creature from the deeps getting closer and closer to the oblivious idiot Spaniel, it all seemed very funny. BUT- in all seriousness if the otter had decided to take the risk and have a snap at Kyra K- the dog would almost certainly have faired poorly in water against an otter! Great time had by all again. As ever thanks to Judy and all staff at Applecross Inn -always welcoming. A hello to all lovely folks we met too - if you pop by leave us a message- everyone was great fun and a good craic. Enjoy these snaps. As ever clicking on the image gets you a larger version. Please don't use our pics without permission- ta xx

More pine marten photographs

Clicking on the picture gets you a larger image. As ever, please do not use our photographs without permission.

Pine Martens... at Applecross

Our week in Autumnal Applecross saw some spectacularly poor weather- but it served our purpose which was to embrace Autumn. We had a good walk each day and each day we were soaked to the skin. Saw an otter on our first day down at Toscaig - the light was rubbish and it was again hunting along the far side of the inlet so too far away for any decent photographs but great to watch it hunt and eat. Such a joy to see our first pine marten at 6.30 AM on first morning. Dark, big, Sumatra rat grey at that time of the morning! However a feed of Peanut butter, homemade blackberry jam, fig rolls and chocy digestives- showed we had two martens- a cute, small, chocolate brown one and a big gnarly snaggle toothed snick eared one. We couldn't work out at first why the marten suddenly showed up and was so brashly confident- then on looking at the snaps we spotted the snick in the ear and the general largeness and roughness of the confident pine marten. We ended up having the excellent good fortune to see the small pine marten every night at about 6.00- 8.30pm. Awesome, delightful creatures- we love them and are so thrilled to finally see them after so many years leaving peanut butter around. :-)

Otter VS Conga Eel: the fight to the death on Applecross

We spent over an hour watching this brave little otter battle a conga eel almost twice its own size and girth. It was unfortunately just a little bit too far away for my lens to capture any decent images but these snaps at least show something of the efforts involved. There were at least five occasions where the otter heaved, pulled, pushed the eel half onto land only for the pair of them to splash right back into the water again when the eel's tail curled up and yanked them off the seaweed. In the end the otter won out and began stripping the skin off the head of the eel and eating that. A Great Black Backed Gull hung around patiently for most of the time, hoping to share in the prize but offering no help to the capture! Very exciting stuff and all viewed from the comfort of Toscaig Pier on Applecross as opposed to our usual viewing gallery of a quickly filling tidal rock pool amongst the seaweed of some Mull shore line. We had a great time on Otter(oops- Outer) Hebrides beginning with 5 days at Applecross and ending with 5 days on Mull.

Wise old owl sitting in a tree

Came upon this Tawny Owl nonchalantly napping in an oak tree, completely oblivious to the distress it was causing to a willow warbler, bill full of caterpillars who was unable to reach her brood.