Hi folks, and welcome to part 2 of my Birdy adventures on the far north coast of Scotland. This post covers only the first half of our third day, but there was so much to see on this particular day that I've really had to split it into two parts, and even at this, there are over 70 photos to get through. I hope this doesn't put you off from having a look though, and if you feel so inclined, hopefully you should be able to see them here.
Paul
My bird photos HERE
Great blog PA, very comprehensive with wonderful pics ... definitely requires more than one run-through to take in all the detail! Have been watching the Divers on a livecam from Orkney for a couple of weeks now & was interesting to find out that you saw them for real! Raven captures great too, amazingly huge birds, got a friend to take pics when she went to ToL but couldn't get perspective! I went to Wildwood Trust, a local place to me & found a pair of these magnificent beasts in a large enclosure where one of them came to within three feet of me ... fantastic view although I would have preferred to see them flying free!!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
You have some cracking photos there. I must visit my relations up north some time to see those beautiful birds - the divers in particular.
"Let loose the Kraken!"
What a lovely blog of your visit to the Kyle of Tongue area Paul, lots of fabulous photos, thank you for putting it all together. I have never seen a Red Throated Diver, but we see Great Northern Divers and Black Throated Divers when we go up to Gruinard Bay in Wester Ross as well as WT Eagles and G.Eagles too.
EJ's Memorial Balgavies Loch Ospreys 2023
Great blog Paul! Think you are right about the great skua and love the photos of the Arctic skua!
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Good afternoon Paul. Once again a cracking set of photos. Looking forward to the continued saga from my homeland. Hope the bill for the breakfast is not too much and that I will be able to afford to pay it!!!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Fantastic blog Paul, really informative & packed with birds I'd never seen. The wheatear could be male or female this time of year as the male looses it's distictive colouring around about now.
My only winge, & Im probably doing it wrong, is that once I clicked on a photo I couldn't get back to the Blog without going back to your thread & clicking on ''here'' again! So I looked at all the photos & then read the Blog!!
Your in-flight phots are particularly brilliant, you've obviously got the knack!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Great pics again Paul, loved the chase between the skua and the kittiwake, very well photographed, don't know how you managed to keep up!! The little warbler also is a stunner, you captured it so well. The ravens I loved and am being converted to the Fulmar, as both you and Jayne (Welsh Lass)sing their praises.
Keep posting, can't get bored with seeing birds you normally never get the chance to see.
Lot to learn
Here is a very short vid of the Raven I mentioned earlier - gives a good idea of how huge & impressive it is
Just sorry there were no Skuas there!! Lol
Thanks everyone for your very kind comments.
Wendy: Thanks for the video of the Raven, and I’m glad you got to see them ‘in the flesh’ so to speak; they are magnificent birds, as you say. Don’t worry about there being no Skuas there.!! We actually had a few one night when we had a BBQ....no....wait....I tell a lie....it was skewers we had.!!
Stuart: I’m sure you’d enjoy going up north, although ‘up north’ for some folks, is ‘down south’ for others, just ask Catlady.!!
Mary: I did get messages on my phone to say that you had commented on the blog itself, but I’ve no idea why they didn’t appear there. Thank you, it is very much appreciated. Although we’ve passed through parts of Wester Ross, we’ve never actually been in the area you describe. Another one for the wish list I think.
-edit- oops, found your comment on part 1, thanks once more.
Kat: Thanks for the agreement about the Great Skua, it just didn’t seem to say ‘Gull’ to me.
Catlady: I wouldn’t worry too much about the bill for breakfast, it’s the bill for the evening meal on our way back that you should be worrying about.!! (Also on its way to you as we speak.).!!
Hazel: I’ve looked at the pictures themselves and I had no trouble going back to the blog. Forgive me if this is too obvious, but did you try closing the photos by clicking on the white cross in the white box which is about 85% the way up the right hand side of the screen? This should close the ‘filmstrip’ and take you back to the blog. Many thanks for the information on the Wheatears by the way.
Gaynor: I’m sure that given time, you will also become a ‘Fully Fledged Fulmar Fan’.!! Fabulous.!!
Hello Paul,
all the birds are good to look at, but I love the red-throated divers and the fulmar-picture with the dangling feet. Not to forget the sedge warbler with the insect. Once again thank you for sharing!
See you!
Bente