Terned on

After spending the afternoon in Strathy Forest on a ranger walk (didn't have the camera, so of course we saw deer!), I got home just in time to jump out of the car, grab my camera bag and head down to the beach with Mick and Smokey. The otter, predictably, failed to put in an appearance, but I think this picture of two Arctic terns has to be on my shortlist for favourite shot of the year :o)



We watched them fishing for a while and although I didn't get any shots of the spectacular dive they do, I did get these:





Smokey was content to hunt down and kill those lethal tennis balls:



And finally some shots from Borgie Glen on Sunday. Not the best light, but definitely a place to go back to on a summer evening or in the snow:

It's all about luck

Because I'd done the last three dog walks by myself, I was all prepared to let Mick take Smokey out on his own this evening, especially since he was going back up on the hill. But then he stuck his head back through the kitchen door and said because the tide was out he was going to go down to the beach instead and I changed my mind and went with him.

We walked along at the water's edge and saw the sand appear to bubble as the waves washed over it. Lugworm holes, lots and lots of them. And that was when Mick saw the otter.

It took me a good five minutes to see it, I was looking too far out, but it stayed in view for easily half an hour, swimming between waves, diving through them with a flick of its tail.

Did I have my camera with me? Of course not :o) But I shall go down tomorrow at the same time and look again. Maybe I'll be lucky...

Note to self: seen approx 5.30pm, low tide approx 2.45pm.

Seawatching

The ranger had organised a seawatch off Strathy Point last night and we were in luck - two minke whales feeding, a pod of 15-30 common dolphins (too far away to count accurately) and a small pod of five or six Risso's dolphins which swam right up to the east side of the point where we were sitting:

A few more puffins

Took these last week and hadn't got round to putting them up. Very few birds out on the rock, only seven or eight in view at any one time. They're all incubating eggs at the bottom of the burrows at the moment and then in a week or two will be out madly fishing to feed the pufflings (isn't that just the best name ever for something that's basically a fluffy ball of grey feathers??).







We have starlings nesting in our letterbox. Mick's fixed a latch to the back of it so it can't blow open accidentally in the wind and when we put our ear to it yesterday we could hear cheeping noises, so they've hatched out. I also went on my first ranger walk of the year yesterday, up the Armadale burn. Came back with a Sika deer antler found by the ranger and a headful of new plant names, most of which I will probably fail to remember again. I didn't take the camera because the sky was flat - big mistake as if I'd had the macro lens with me I'd be able to show you pictures of tiger beetles, dor beetles, frogs and a baby toad which has to be one of the most adorable amphibians I've ever seen. I'll try and get back up there the next time I have a free afternoon in good light.