Christine's walking & birds blog

Gannets, bonxies, and red-throated divers were still very much in evidence at Ardmair; while a flock of twenty-two twite actively foraged on the spit.

It was an afternoon of drives and brief visits, and my next stop was moorland where I took a shortish walk, seeing a quantity of meadow pipits, a juvenile stonechat, and fourteen ravens. Returning to the car I caught a glimpse of two buzzards further along the road, which then disappeared behind crags. The sky there seemed full of large birds, including ravens, and I had a suspicion that one of them was a golden eagle. I drove on to a rough pull-in and was in time to see some of the action. (A kestrel was also present.)

It was clearly the buzzards' territory and they were intent on driving the eagle away. I suppose if this were a painting, it would be quite good - as it is, it's just a poor photo!

The eagle eventually gave up and escaped by soaring ever higher - growing fainter until it was finally lost to sight in the cloud.