 | Last week we spent the whole week on the Isle of May in the Forth. Like other places we visit on our travels it felt a real privilege to be there as part of a fairly exclusive club. It was the height of the bird breeding season. Oystercatchers were widespread, piping away, protecting their young from the marauding gulls, however the Terns were causing anxiety since they were late to arrive and even later to settle down. The stars of the show for us were the auks, and in particular, the clowns of the sea - the Puffins. From the start of the week they began hatching their eggs. We know this by the fact that they carried sand eels increasingly as the week wore on. Being resident meant being able to use the whole of the day for photography which was a hoped-for bonus once the sea haar dispersed. |
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 Not long back from our Big trip of 2014 to Borneo and then on to Sulawesi.
Borneo was very productive for Mammals, Frogs and Dragonflies but less so for Birds and Butterflies. Sulawesi made up for Borneo for birds as well as giving us some special mammals - see more on the trips page. For fours hours we watched these Red Leaf Monkeys approach us at Danum before they decided that the way forward was close to the boardwalk. How could anyone cut down a forest if it makes these beautiful creatures homeless. I'm sure I don't know,  We recently took part in our annual trip to the Isle of May with our local bird club on Sunday. The weather forecast was not good with rain, wind and cold predicted - none of which you want for a boat trip! As it turned out, it was dry as the boat left the harbour, but the sea was rough for our crossing, so we were all very glad to step ashore. We were greeted by sunshine and hundreds of Arctic Terns which were settling down to nest near the harbour.
Having been quite a few times before we didn't explore much of the island this time, deciding instead to concentrate on the Puffins, which were flying in and out with fish, and the Terns who seemed to be using the passers by as target practice. All too soon it was time to leave for a much calmer crossing back to the mainland.  We are just back from a week in the Uists. Windy (of course) but rather cold due to the wind direction that varied from North West to North East. There were many highlights such as the pair of Black throated divers courting and the sheer number and density of breeding waders; perhaps it was like this throughout the land. such as a hundred Ringed Plovers working a machair field or dozens of Dunlin and Sanderling feeding on the tiny beaches along the west coast.
Short of finding an Otter (we didn't) the prime target must be the strange Corncrake. After a little success we nearly gave up but on our last morning we had one up close and personal. A fitting end. |
AuthorEric & Lesley McCabe Archives
January 2020
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