Third Bird Photography: Loch Na Keal

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Ulva

The good weather continued so we returned to Ulva Ferry, this time to cross over to Ulva itself. As it turns out we managed to go over at the exact same time as a guided walk. Not wanting to be leap-frogging each other all day we took the less-travelled path. Major mistake. We ended up sweating away under a blazing sun, which was horribly backlighting everything and we ended up going around (and up and down with heavy equipment) in circles. We barely saw anything while we were on the island and ended up seeing very little of it apart from the farms. We'll know which way not to go next time!
We did meet a very nice resident and her flock of garden birds and had a nice cup of tea and slice of cake at the boat house. A black guillemot was within a few metres of the ferry on the way back, I don't know who was more surprised, us or the guillemot.
Back on the main island we finally got a good view of a whimbrel, another first for us.

Male Chaffinch on lichen-festooned branch

Goldfinch

Black sheep of the family (of lots of of other black sheep)

Path around the south of Ulva

Gnarled branches in the woods

Lush moss and spring shoots in the woods

View from Ulva Ferry

View across Loch Na Keal and Eorsa Island

Whimbrel

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Loch Na Keal

A long trip around Loch Na Keal to look for Otters and Eagles. We saw one Otter briefly heading up Loch Beg. No eagles but lots of other things along the way.