Return to Aigas 6

Tags

Aigas House, Aigas Quarry, bog bean, bog cotton, common frog, four spotted chaser, Glen Affric, Glen Cannich, Glen Strathfarrar, golden retriever, Lord Tweedmouth, oystercatcher, Plodda Falls, red deer, sandpiper, spotted heath orchid, stonechat

Tuesday dawned sunny and bright, and so it continued until mid-morning. (But that was it for the week.)  Today was spent going up and down Glen Cannich and Glen Affric.

Four spotted chaser dragonfly

Bog bean

Bog cotton

Spotted heath orchid

The sun abandoned us at this point.

Common sandpiper

We saw enormous numbers of red deer today, sometimes in huge herds.

Stonechat

Oystercatcher

Lunch was spent in a howling and rainy gale, (and in my case inside our vehicle!) so I couldn’t get any decent shots of the dam where we had it. Fortunately the wind and rain dropped at about the time we were to set off again. On the way to Plodda Falls we saw this curiosity, a tribute to the man who ‘invented’ the golden retriever.

The Falls were not for those with vertigo!

Just to be clear, we are looking down from the platform at this point

Then we walked about halfway down,  and I took this…

… and this.

But I wanted to take the lot, so I set my camera to panoramic.  But it will only do vertical or horizontal, so I had to twist my head and take a skewed vertical picture, if you see what I mean.

On the way back to Aigas House, we called in on Aigas Quarry, hoping to see a peregrine falcon’s nest.  We didn’t, but I was able to enjoy the geology and some more wild flowers.  The stone is micaceous schist, and was used for building one of the many hydro-electricity dams along the glen. (Did you know that a glen is a valley formed by river action and a strath is a valley formed by glacier action?  I didn’t either.  Glen Strathfarrar clearly has a problem with its identity!)

Someone came across this tiny frog, barely an inch (2.5 cm) long.

(It will be a couple of days or so before the remaining two posts in this series appear.)

Return to Aigas 5

Tags

Aigas, jay, Laurie Campbell, pine marten

Monday evening, purely pine marten.  At 8 pm we went up to the (Laurie) Campbell hide, and, once Ruth had placed some strategic honey and peanuts, waited in absolute silence for 50 minutes, at which point a young pine marten appeared, well accustomed to feeding here. He (or she) stayed for about 25 minutes.

One of our number had a coughing fit and we feared this would drive the pine marten off.  But he was not fazed at all.  On the other hand he really started when a jay flew close by him.  Fortunately he decided to stay, to our great pleasure.

Return to Aigas 4

Tags

barnacle goose, bottlenose dolphin, common gull, cormorant, Ctomarty, dolphin, guillemot, lapwing, mallard, Moray Firth, oystercatcher, RSPB

Early afternoon on the Monday, we arrived at Cromarty to see this:

Something to do with oil

A bit of a comedown after the beauty of the Highlands we’d been in for two days.  But we were soon kitted out in heavy waterproofs, and moved to our boat.

An excellent design, giving stability when you stand up. Wouldn’t want to sit that way for longer than the couple of hours we did though.

Out into the Moray Firth, to see dolphins and sea birds.

Guillemots in the background

I’ve not cropped out the fingers, to show how close to the boat the dolphins came.

Cormorants and guillemots

I was pleased to catch a bottlenose dolphin’s face.

The tail end of a jump

I like a nice bit of geology

Common gulls

Three dolphins being playful near the boat

World War II fortifications

 

We thought this flight was of barnacle geese.

We were all very happy bunnies afterwards.

Venetia, Margaret (whose knowledge of birds was extraordinary), Alan, Margaret, Karen, Judy, Elisabeth, Joyce

To finish off the afternoon, we drove to an RSPB reserve at Udale Bay.

Common gulls

 

Oystercatcher, lapwing, mallard

Return to Aigas 3

Tags

Aigas, Beauly Firth, Black Isle, Chanonry Point, dolphins, gery heron, lapwing, osprey, shelduck, thrift

Monday, spent on – and off – the Black Isle, and back at Aigas, was the best day, so good that there will be three posts about it.  (By contrast, later in the week, two days may share one post.)

The weather was very grey today, but at least it was mostly dry while we were out. Our first stop was at Redcastle on the Beauly Firth. It wasn’t long before we saw an osprey!  What a sighting.  Indeed – sightings, including seeing them snatch fish from the Firth.  Difficult to tell, but we thought we saw four of these birds in total, which kept us much longer than intended.  Our excellent seasonal ranger, Ruth, was very flexible as to time.

Shelduck

Osprey

With flat fish

Another with a fish-shaped fish

We drove on and stopped further along the Firth.

Grey heron

Lapwing

The last stop of the morning was at Chanonry Point where – in a gale – we saw a few dolphins, but much too far away for photos. And had our packed lunches.

But I liked this thrift.

In the afternoon: we definitely saw dolphins, up close …

Return to Aigas 2

Tags

Aigas, Aigas Field Centre, bronze age huts, Eurasian Beaver, Golden eagle, house martin, iron age fort, John LIster-Kaye, Magnus House, Magnus Magnusson, Meadow pipit, pine marten, Round-leaved sundew, wild cat, wild cat breeding programme

I forgot to say – because I had no photo to remind me – that we had this morning a few seconds’ glimpse of a juvenile golden eagle.  Quite a thrill, if all too brief as it disappeared into the cloud at the top of the mountain.

This afternoon we spent being introduced to the immediate territory that goes with Aigas House.  First of all we had a briefing from seasonal ranger Ben at the front of the house, during which we were entertained by the industrious and fearless house martin parents who were feeding young just over the doorway.

Then we walked up to the Magnus House, the educational space named after, and opened just after the death of, Magnus Magnusson, a good friend of naturalist Sir John Lister-Kaye, who, with his wife, Lucy, and his son, Warwick, runs the Aigas Field Centre.  On the way, we noticed, not for the first or the last time, that in Inverness-shire, in mid-June, the bluebells were still in flower.

Boris

Inside we found Boris, the male beaver, who, with his mate Lily, successfully bred for several years as part of an experimental reintroduction scheme. (Pending governmental decision, this scheme is now in abeyance.)  Several of the offspring have been dispersed elsewhere, but Lily and some of her cubs are still seen occasionally on Aigas Loch, which we next visited.

We saw several signs of beaver activity, including the building of accommodation more to their taste than the artificial lodge which was first provided for them.

One of my favourite photos from the whole week

Round-leaved sundew, insectivorous plant

I think this was a meadow pipit

Yes, I know you see chaffinches everywhere

When three-quarters of the way round the loch, we diverted upwards to some heathland, to the location of some bronze age huts.  We had no time to go even further upward to the site of an iron age fort.

There was broom and/or gorse nearly everywhere we went

On the way down we were told a little about the wild cat breeding programme of which the Centre is part.  In due course, in a few more generations, it is hoped that some kittens may be reintroduced into the wild, well away from where any domestic cat can be found, in order to ensure the purity of the genetic stock.

Apart from the two people who look after the cats, no-one is allowed to visit the cats. so that they do not become habituated to humans. They must remain truly wild.  Frustrating to be so near and not see, but at the same time a privilege even to be near the project.

Return to Aigas 1

Tags

Aigas, bog plant, Inverness-shire, oystercatcher, red deer, song thrush, Strathfarrar

Ever since October 2104, when I had done a photography course, far too high-powered for me, at the Aigas Field Studies Centre in Inverness-shire, I had wanted to return there to do one of their basic wildlife courses.  I succeeded in doing so last week, and was not disappointed – apart from the weather for which, soft Southerner that I am, I was stupidly ill-equipped.  I hadn’t realised that up there if it isn’t raining they reckon it’s fine.  When out in the field I was cold, expecially for the second part of the week, but I’ll try not to go on about that too much in this series of blogs, because otherwise I had a great time, with some lovely fellow wildlife enthusiasts.

Sunday morning was spent in Glen Strathfarrar.  Much of it was pretty boggy, and acidic.

Wherever we went, there were masses of wild flowers, pretty small most of them but oh so pretty.  Some of my companions took their identification very seriously.  I just enjoyed looking at them. If anyone wishes to tell me any names, I will add them and credit the source!

Bog cotton.  This was everywhere, all week, and very pretty it was too.

Those were all taken at our first stop.  Our second stop also had its boggy plants…

… though it paid to look around as well.  And the sun’s come out for a few minutes.

Our third stopping place was less boggy, but had a great view at the end of a loch, and was a little more lively as far as wildlife was concerned.

The first of many troops of wild red deer we saw in the week, not to mention those being farmed.

Song thrush

Oyster catcher and cuckoo

The remains of the winter’s snow

Two cuckoos and two oystercatchers

Back for an excellent buffet lunch, looking forward to the afternoon’s activities.

Muchelney and Thorney

Tags

cattle, heron, martin, Midelney, Muchelney, National Trust, pumping station, River Parrett, swan, Thorney, water management, Westmoor, Yeovil Railway

Muchelney was much in the news in winter 2013/14.   ‘-ney’ or ‘-ey’ at the end of a place-name round here in the Somerset Levels, drained over centuries, means ‘island’. Muchelney became a ‘Great Island’ once more in the terrible floods suffered at that time by some farmers and other residents.

The weather was much better when Zoe and I decided to start our monthly walk from the Priest’s House (National Trust), Muchelney the other day, following the River Parrett for much of the circular walk, and returning via Thorney to the village, which showed signs of considerable refurbishment.  Some houses seemed still unoccupied.

The Priest’s House. We didn’t visit, having neither the time nor our NT membership cards with us.

A bridge disappeared from a railway line disappeared

Dad, Mum and offspring

The feather blew off, to our satisfaction…

…and a second offspring rejoined the family

Our debate and conclusions as to what this was were far too ridiculous to be recorded here.

All along the River Parrett there were signs of water management, overwhelmed during the flooding.

I think was the first walk which Zoe and I have done where every single stile was a kind sub-gate, rather than one needing to be clambered over.

Pumping station

Just a few of the swans gracing a field nearby

Below the three outlets there were fish small…

… and large.  Was the water particularly highly oxygenated?

Not easy to capture the martins after the flies which frequented the same spot.

Older water management device

More evidence of the old Yeovil branch line

Returning to Muchelney…

… we saw there were things to do and see there.

Just a field with some cattle to cross to return to our starting point. We reminded ourselves of another walk when we had hastily beaten a retreat over a five-barred-gate as some young bullocks were taking much too close an interest in us.

Is this too close? We walked on, to hear the thunder of 15 x 4 hooves behind us.  Zoe said you just turn round and stare at them.  I decided to rush at them rather.

It worked, and they turned back and aside, gambolling as much as young cattle can.  But they also thought it was a great game and continued to stalk us.

I continued my method, Zoe hers.

We were pleased to get the other side of a gate,

and I was able to confront the bold leader of the gang, with whom, nevertheless, I felt I had established some kind of relationship.  Is that an evil eye, or what?

The best view we could get of Muchelney Abbey’s ‘ground plan’ without going in.

Our starting point, the church of St Peter and St Paul.