It was pretty grim yesterday on the coast, with a strong ESE wind,
100%overcast and some occasional horizontal drizzle. Needless to say, we
didn't go far.
I met John and Boulmer car park at 8am and the first hour was spent watching
the sea from the car. The waves were rolling in on a white foamy sea. Our
hopes of a white winged gull or something came to nothing. A couple of
Kittiwakes were the best birds we could manage, plus a tiny Weasel carrying a
mouse along the edge of the car park, under the toy box and under our cars out
of sight, so we decided to venture out.
A wander north along the beach to the village was the plan to see if there was
anything loitering around the corner.
Sadly the first thing of note, was already deceased. A fresh Harbour Porpoise
was washed up. Its body covered in small white lesions of some kind.
Deceased Harbour Porpoise, Boulmer
Only 200 mtrs beyond the beached cetacean I notice some fresh looking Stoat
tracks on the sand by some tank blocks. John then called out, 'Whats that moving
on the sand?' 'Its a Stoat with a Black Rabbit!'.
Sure enough, a moribund melanistic Rabbit was hanging on to life as the Stoat
did its very best to serve the coup-de-grace by biting the nape of its neck,
but the prey seemed a bit too big to get a good grip. We watched for half an
hour until near hypothermia set in. In that time, the Stoat dashed to the long
grass at the beach edge a couple of times before returning to its kill. It
tried dragging the sad Rabbit up the beach but each time it would muster
enough life force to kick back and slow progress. As we left, the Stoat had
the Rabbit nearer to cover but the struggle looked set to continue for a while
yet.
So. some great mammal experiences were had, it just shows there is always
something if you just put a little effort in.
Whenever we visit this part of Scotland we like to have a day trip over to Tobermory on the island of Mull. We take the small roll on roll off ferry from Kilchoan as foot passengers and have a stroll around the picturesque harbour at Tober.
Kilcoan is a very remote part of the world, so much so that a barman in Tobermory said to us, 'Its like London over here compared to there!' Maybe not quite, but Kilchoan is quite out of the way, its probably easier to do your shopping after this ferry trip than to drive over to Fort William.
On these trips we are generally lucky with the weather and this year was no exception, being sunny, but cool.
Almost as soon as we stepped on to the ferry, Jane noticed a bird coming from behind me and pointed it out. It was a nice adult White-tailed Eagle, very close. By the time I got the camera out, the bird was going in an opposite direction to the ferry, it was just a speck, but soaring right over where we had left the car! Bugger.
Tobermory
White-tailed Eagle over Kilchoan.
Harbour Porpoises
Well thats enough of the holiday snaps for one trip, what with small parties of Curlews arriving to the fields next to home, you know whats just a short few weeks away...
