It has been rather miserable weather wise of late up here but today it is back to sunshine and blue skies. The forecast for here reports it to get as high as 16 degrees over the weekend. Not bad for the Highlands in October! Millie and Breagha on the other hand currently have a sweltering 30 degrees to boast about in Senegal. Obviously too hot to do any travelling. These two are still relaxing, keeping it local and not doing very much, which is why I’m talking about the weather instead of all the exciting things that our youngsters have been getting up to. Mike has the latest:
“Once again over the last three days our two birds have done very little but stay in the areas they have frequented over the past couple of weeks for Millicent and many months for Breagha. On 12th October, Breagha did manage at least a 7.5 km round trip NE from his home area and he was actually still flying E at 16.00 GMT but apart from that he is recorded as not travelling very far. Whilst these stories may be getting less interesting than earlier reports the good news is that both our birds still appear to be healthy and have found good fishing spots so why move!”
With the sun shining, I couldn’t resist popping out and snapping a few photos on the reserve.
Quite a contrast to the video I took last week of a very windy Loch Garten, which had taken on the character of a choppy, stormy sea rather than the glassy, millpond of a Loch that we are used to.
The wind did eventually stop a few days later and allowed for me to take a stroll down to Loch Mallachie without the risk of tree parts flying at me. I sat down with my bins to watch the ducks dabbling on the opposite side of the loch when suddenly they all took fright. A hen harrier had swiftly soared over the reeds and made a half hearted grab for a horrified wigeon. Failing in its attempts, the harrier took a leisurely flight towards me, and then flew over my shoulder on its way to Loch Garten, probably to have a go at the ducks on there. An incredible sight and a first on the reserve for me. Being a winter visitor to the reserve, it isn’t an unlikely sighting this time of year but something I wouldn’t usually see during the spring/summer season.
Hen Harrier by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
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