27th: Golden Eagle pair in the closest nesting area (too high for good shots) and 1 Hen Harrier at Ensay-Burg road summit.
At night we had a really spectacular aurora, probably our best ever. Although there we saw no curtains it was incredibly bright with multiple beams and more red than we had seen before. Photography was put on hold as we enjoyed the spectacle. Leena and Jane were seeing a lot of red where the green rays faded high in the sky. Strangely I was only seeing the red as dark patches which looked more like dark clouds. A few moments later I did see very red patches low down in the sky but not where Leena and Jane were seeing it.
Finally I did decide to take some photos. I only have an SLR 400mm zoom (smaller digital cameras don't have more than 6sec exposure). I knew any shots would be too zoomed in and I am also slightly traumatised because last time I dropped my camera and lens on out gravel and knocked a big chuck out of my lens. This was made worse by the fact that I had just removed the filter which would have protected the lens.
Anyway today I forgot to jack up the ISO so the photos at 100 ISO were a disaster. This was my best.
I must look in to the cost of a cheap small lens.
Carolyne has much better shots on her blog.
26th: A Heron was seen flying to the area of last years nest in Treshnish wood
20th: 1 White-tailed Eagle flew south-west over Treshnish lochan.
18th: a t least 3 Goldeneye close in at high tide at Dervaig.
15th: West wind brought 1 Golden Eagle over Treshnish wood. One of the White-ramping Fumitory's has been completely eaten in the last couple of days. They are protected from the hare by a metal cage so it must have been a rodent presumably a vole. It was a healthy plant which I was hoping would flower in the spring. Hopefully the culprit doesn't get a taste for the remaining 4 plants as I am trying to biuld up a new seed bank other than the one at Treshnish House. I have doubts that the plants which flowered in the autumn will resume flowering in the spring but it would be great to be wrong.
13th: 1 White-tailed Eagle flew west below Treshnish wood.
12th: 1 Mountain Hare in our garden.
10th: West wind brought 1 Golden Eagle low over Treshnish wood, juvenile Hen Harrier performing exactly the same movement into the apple orchard at Treshnish wood (I thought that when I saw it on the 6th that it had probably have done this risky manoeuvre before).
9th: West wind. Golden Eagle pair calling and sky-dancing low over Treshnish wood. Unfortunately this was instigated by another 2 Golden Eagles behind Ensay farmhouse and as they didn't stay the display was short-lived. Seeing Golden Eagles excited and displaying like this is till one of my birding highlights.
8th: 1 Mountain Hare in our garden. I could see that white is alo on the front as well as the back of the hind legs (but not the sides).
7th: Golden Eagle pair, juvenile Hen Harrier at Reudle settlement, 1 Mistle Thrush & 3 prob Fieldfares at Ensay farmhouse.
6th: 1 juvenile Hen Harrier over and in Treshnish wood (disappeared into the wee orchard).
5th: 1 Mountain Hare at Treshnish Old Schoolhouse showing white behind ears and legs (also seen 2 other times in last 10 days).
4th: Golden Eagle pair at Burg/Tostary.
