Saturday, July 29, 2023

"Look!" Greger exclaimed as I was scanning for small birds on the lower slopes - and there high above the hill were two golden eagles, sailing into view side-by-side and then putting on a show of aerobatics.


Whenever they interacted I clicked off a shot, but each time the faster movement ended in just a blur. In one picture taken before they come together, the lower bird has its head raised as it looks up at the higher one. (I remember noting this down south when I watched a pair of buzzards in display flight above the garden.) As we walked away one of them, or a third bird, came into view even higher, soaring for a while and then also vanishing from sight.


Supporting cast: house martins, meadow pipits, redpoll, and a family of stonechats.

A week ago at Achnahaird I looked for the nests of Colletes bees that had appeared last summer on the low cliffs near the beach - and found the place buzzing! Without optical aid, they resembled swarms of small black flies - and I hoped no-one would take to swatting them!



Back at the car park, I walked a little further along the cliffs to see if the old colony (although I think it's actually called an aggregation), which appeared to be abandoned last year, was in use again - and it was. This appeared to be a smaller colony than the beach one, but in one respect it was better situated - very close to the heather that provides the species with pollen . The only other thing of note was a solitary sanderling at Badentarbat - unbelievably, my first sanderling of the year.

// posted by Christine @ 11:33 AM
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