Tomich, Glen Affric and Cannich area

 We have just returned from a week up near Tomich in Glen Affric, Highlands. before we went, the weather forecast looked grim for the week, but it turned out not as bad as predicted. We still had some rain everyday except the Saturday, it was a Sunday to Sunday trip, that was fine and warm. The rest was mainly sunny with showers but it was quite cold all week.

The area seemed quite quiet for wildlife, maybe the weather was keeping things down. The hoped for Pine Martens didn't materialise, leaving our bait untouched despite them being nightly visitors to a house just a few hundred metres away. We didn't even see a single deer of any kind!  Very unusual that.

Still' a few things of interest did show including Osprey, Red Kite, a single juv Golden Eagle viewed from the bottom of the house garden over the Affric hills. Its white tail base, wing flashes and Golden nape could be seen clearly in the sunsine through the scope. A Red Squirrel ran along the road side near Beauly.

This is the house we stayed in Glen Affric View, Hilltop, Tomich, a lovely quiet place. The access track was a bit steep and undulating in the car, but otherwise, great.

As you can see from the top image, we were surrounded by birch woodland so the moth trap was deployed to see what was around. Despite the cold nights sometimes with white frost, moths were caught every evening. Highlights below - 

Acleris logiana, only one caught.

Barred Umber, one or two each night

Glaucous Shears, only the one caught.

Grey Birch, a few taken each night.

Ringed Carpet was my only new moth, 2 caught on one night. 

Scarce Prominent, maybe the moth of the week. Before this week I had only seen one, last year in our garden. This week up to a dozen per night! 

Pearl bordered Fritillary, only the third time I have seen this butterfly, this was my first in Scotland, in the garden by the summerhouse.

Some other odds and sods in the garden -

Orange Tip, female

Platismatia glauca, a nice lichen.

I kept seeing lighting fast beautiful shiny small beetles in the lawn. They were Poecilus versicolor, a Greenclock beetle. A new one for me.

This Harvestman Rilaena triangularis wasnt even seen until back home looking at photos of the lichen.

Oak Ferns in the birch woods, a new one to me.

Cowberry, Glan Affric

A few more of the local scenery - 

Above, all Glen Affric.

Plodda Falls, impressive...

The lovely village of Tomich.

We also were given a site in Strath Glass for Beavers. We visited and saw the lodge and some tree gnawing but no Beavers. Had we been staying a bit closer I would have put more effort in.

New additions to the PSL - Ringed Carpet, Oak Fern, Haplodrassus signifer, Plasmatia glauca, 

Ardnamurchan

 Hi, apologies for the dearth of blog posts over the last few weeks. I began one about 2 weeks ago and never got it finished due to one thing or another.

Last week we were away on holiday up to the Ardnamurchan, our 7th visit to this area and the 6th in the same house.

As can be expected on the west coast of Scotland at this time of year, the weather was mixed, but overall I'd say it erred on the better side. Only Friday was a write off with torrential rain and strong winds, but Weds and Thurs were beautiful calm, clear autumn days. The rest were a bit of a mix.

On the wildlife front, birding took a back seat really and it was too cool for the moth trap though I did try it on one night to justify carting it up here. A few moths were caught but it was all stuff I can get at home anyway.   This visit was mainly dominated by the garden mammals for nature interest.

Out of 7 nights we were visited by Fox on 6 nights, Badger, up to 3, on 6 nights and Pine Marten possibly 2 on 4 nights. It was unprecedented for us to see all three predators on view at one time. There was a pecking order however with a large male Badger on top of the pile, then the smaller 2 Badgers and the Fox with the smaller Pine Marten wary of them all.

The only problem at this house is that there are no outside lights and the windows are quite small, so I hunted around and found a small LED reading lamp that could be balanced on the kitchen window to light the bird table. Using a bit of stiff card to prevent back glare off the glass we managed some great views of the animals, probably our closest ever of Badger and Fox, though Pine Martens can often peer in at windows.

It was important to keep the main kitchen light off so we remained hidden in the darkness, this made cooking the tea 'interesting'. If we go back I will be taking a better lighting set up. One to think about.

Not exactly floodlit but it did the job.

Before dusk each night, we put out a mix of food. A muesli of cat biscuits, sunflower hearts, chopped peanuts, chopped apple and grapes and a small amount of jam and bread cut into centimetre cubes. A spoonful of honey was drizzled over the lot. On some nights we put out a whole egg on the table that the Pine Marten took before anything else.

Feeling a bit sorry for the Fox, we cracked an egg on to a saucer one night for him. He stalked up in the darkness to see what this oddity was and attacked. He stole the saucer, tipping the egg on to the grass! He ran off into the wooded garden with the crockery that I had to recover the next day. You might guess who got the egg. Badgers are forensic when they comb the grass for tit bits....

Pine Marten 

Fox, in dark and in daylight. Pine Marten very scared of him and was off like a rocket when he appeared....

The Badger Family

The Animals of Farthing Wood...

As if this nightly spectacle wasn't safari enough, just beyond the gate were lots of bellowing Red Deer stags with small parties of hinds and calves on the moss too...

Red Deer

Another fab week away from it all. There must be Wildcats here too surely...

Caithness part 2. Orca.

 This post is mainly to show the wildlife that we saw and if any info can help potential visitors.

Lets start with the absolute stars of the show that were worth the trip alone - 

Orca.

Before we went and when booking up, I was not aware of how regular these magnificent predators are along the Caithness coast. I thought they were 'Shetland or no chance' sightings, so they weren't even on my radar until I was having a hunt around the internet a week before we went.

One contact on Twitter told me that we just happened to be starting our holiday on the first day of Orca Watch.

Orca Watch? Really, what are the chances though? As it happens, they are very good!

There is a WhatsApp sightings Group run by Steve Truluck and a couple of others to gather info and spread details of up to the minute sightings of Orca. Also there are a couple of good Facebook pages, Orca Watch, Sea Watch Foundation and Caithness and Moray Firth Cetacean Sightings.  

For the two weeks of our stay, they were reported in the region on most days. The Orca Watch base camp is in John O'Groats and the best places for shore sightings are, starting from the south and moving anti-clockwise, Wick, Noss Head, Auckengill, Duncansby Head, John O Groats harbour, St John's Point and Dunnet Head to the west.  

If a pod or individual animals are spotted heading in a direction, it is best to try and head them off at the next good view point ahead of their direction of travel. There are several small pods and groups in the area between late April and late July so chances are good, but especially during the Orca Watch week as there are many more observers looking.

Also the foot ferry from Groats to St Margaret's Hope, Orkney gets good sightings and during the watch week they detour 'off piste' to give passengers a better look, though it can be quite expensive so we didn't try this option.

How did we do?

On our very first day, the 28th May, we arrived around 4pm. Immediately there was a report of two males passing Noss Head, north. This is visible from our cottage window, but, not being fully clued up as to what they would do, and we were tired after an 8 hour drive we missed them. We could have gone to John O Groats where they were visible for up to two hours, but we weren't even sure how far Groats was. We hoped for a 'next time'

As days passed, sightings came from Orkney and further south until Sunday 5th June, when around 4.30pm these same two males were seen heading south from Duncansby Head towards us. Although we were set back in Sinclairs Bay, at Keiss, the sea was calm and we had a good view in nice light so I set up in the garden with the scope and scanned. It was like waiting for a Feas Petrel at Cullernose. I kept checking the WhatsApp for more news until it said they were visible off Keiss! Where were they?

Sure enough, a tall black triangular fin broke the surface. Though distant, it was unmistakeable, then I lost it just as quick. Frantic scanning to try and get Jane on to it came to nothing, until half an hour later, they were reported in Sinclairs bay, NW of Noss Head. This was where we were looking. Soon a frenzy of gulls gathered so I concentrated on that spot. Again a huge fin and back broke the surface. Apparently they had killed a seal and were hanging around. Jane got a couple of views too, then they seemed to vanish...

Views, but not wholly satisfactory. 

In our second week, I was loitering around the house scanning the sea when a message came through of 2 Orca off Wick heading north, quickly past Staxigoe, very close in.

What to do? Hang fire for info then try to head them off somewhere for closer views. The animals rounded Noss very close in so we jumped into the car to head North to Auckengill a couple of miles along the road, but not back into the bay.

Up in Keiss village, a couple of vehicles were parked in a high layby with people scanning below with bins so we stopped. They had seen a distant glimpse across the bay but nothing more. I set up the scope and scanned. One vehicle next to us got a call through to say they were at the south of the bay around 3 miles from us but they had just left and were heading straight towards our vantage point.

A tense half hour seeing nothing followed. There were another seven observers,down at the bottom of the field were we were above, right on the rock edges, scanning too. Then Jane noticed these people started jogging along their path so I dropped the scope to scan the shore edge. There, 2 fins emerged and were coming our way. They came right in to the rocks where seals lay out. The Orcas were so close the seals began barking and mobbing at them from the safety of dry land. It was amazing to hear.

A bull Orca crosses Sinclair bay towards us.

Whilst these views were good, the people below were only yards away so we all headed along to a better point at Auckengill. Here the small car park was almost full and people were gathered on the rocks below. We waited, again. Soon I saw cameras being raised below us and all of a sudden a large bull Orca emerged around the point only about 30 feet from the shore. It was breath taking making the hairs on my arm stand up seeing this mega predator right at our feet. I don't think I've been close to an animal in the UK that could eat me if it wanted!

The bull was leading another three Orca, 2 females and a small juvenile. this was the '64's' Pod, well known and recorded from several areas.

All of a sudden the male took a turn of speed, slashing into a rocky channel where he seemed to catch a seal. The others just waited behind him until he returned and the hung around for a while. It looked like they were feeding but there was no blood so the prey seemed to have had a lucky break. After this, the group headed off north towards Duncansby with an attendant entourage of cars and camper vans wanting more views. We were blown away by what we had seen, so left and headed back to the house. 

As he emerged around the corner, the hairs on my arms stood up, what a beast.

Orcas, the 64s pod, down to 30 feet at Auckengill, Caithness 8th June

The words awesome and stunning are often over used  hype for things like Blyths Reed Warbler or Double Crested Cormorant but in this case, I can say these animals are truly stunning and awesome!

More ( albeit less dramatic, stuff to follow...)