Skye - Waterfalls and Woodland Walks

Autumn is a fantastic time of year for some great scenery shots.  The colours are so varied, the light is constantly changing on Skye and this can make photography very tricky!

This stream and waterfall look dramatic with the snowy mountain tops in the background.

As we were driving past the Loch we saw this gull flying off with a piece of seaweed and wondered what he was doing?  He kept dropping it on the beach, we then realised there was a mussel attached to it which he was trying to break. After a few unsucessful attempts he flew to some nearby rocks and managed to smash it on them to get his prize.

A bit further along it started to rain again, but it did make for a nice rainbow.

After Luke twice falling in the water at the waterfalls and us running out of dry clothes for him, we decided a woodland walk might be safer option for the rest of the day! The colours are just great at this time of year.

We were hoping to see lots of birds in the woods, but only managed Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits and the ever present Robin.  There were loads of different types of fungi in all different shapes, sizes and colours.

Long Tailed Tit

Great Tit

Robin

Fungi

View through the trees to the Loch

Skye - Trip to the south of the island, Otter day!

A lovely sunny day today, made even better by an impromptu stop at the roadside to see Redwing, Waxwing and Fieldfare all feeding on the same berry tree.

Fieldfare

Waxwing

Redwing

Driving beside the Loch, Luke shouts "I've seen an Otter, I saw his head and his whiskers"  OK - we are not to doubt him, so reverse up the car, and sure enough there's an Otter!!
I got some good photographs of him, but all too soon he slips into the choppy water and I lost sight of him.

The water may be choppy but it is crystal clear.

We also saw this Curlew amongst the rocks.

We decide to park the car up and walk along the Loch.  After an hour we decide not much is happening until ...  I see another two Otters.  We had a great view of these two and watched them for at least half an hour.  Fantastic.

We watched them feeding on crabs out in the Loch and managed to get down to the water without being spotted, and settled down off the sky line amongst the rocks. Then one of them caught a fish too big to deal with in the water and hauled up on the rocks just a few feet away!

Just look at those teeth

They certainly were not going to share, but after the fish was gone...

Then these Oystercatchers flew by.

Time for lunch after all that excitement.

We took a drive to the south of the island, saw Buzzards and had some good views of the Loch's below.

Drove past our first Otter sighting spot and saw another!!

This was our best Otter watching day ever and it was really good that we all managed to get some close up views of them. Even Luke managed to keep quite enough to take some pictures of them.

And just to prove it didn't rain every night, well not all night anyway!

Trip to Raasay

Raasay is a small island just of Skye reached by ferry.  It has 140 residents and some small but very uneven roads.

Whilst waiting to board the ferry we saw Dunnock and Redpoll feeding on some nearby grasses.

Redpoll

Dunnock

Great views of Eider Ducks out at sea from the ferry on the way across.

Just as we were coming in to the harbour at Raasay spotted this Grey Heron.

Buzzard sat on a telegraph pole - I think he was waiting for us, but as soon as you stop the car off they go!

After a 3 hour walk up a mountain to the peak at Dun Cana, we travelled to the north of the island on the hunt for Eagles.  No Eagles today, but this Stag more than made up for it.  I think he had been walking through the forests before he shot across the road just in front of us!

Spectacular views from Dun Cana, after I had fallen in a bog up to my knees, wet muddy legs for the rest of the day, plus we all got a good drenching on the way down!  All in a good cause though and more great sightings were still to come.

Just off the coast we could see about 15 Porpoises - well done to Luke for spotting these.

Seal spotted from the top of the cliffs.

And most unusual - pigs wandering in the road??

All too soon it was time to head back to the ferry, Oliver spotted a Stonechat.

Parked up at the ferry queue, had an hour to spare so went for a walk, and then I couldn't believe it, an otter fishing in the water just beside the harbour - watched him fishing for about 20 minutes - fantastic!

A wonderful day for sightings and between the showers we even get some sunshine!

Skye - Early Mornings

We decided to go out before sunrise, to see what we could find.  First spot of the morning was a deer in a field just at the side of the road.

After parking up at the nearest beach, we saw Gulls, Curlew, Meadow Pipit, Robin and Cormorant.  No sunrise either, it was lashing it down!!

Gulls

Great Black Backed Gull

Meadow Pipit

Just near the harbour this Robin let me get within about 4 feet of him.

The harbour near by

Back to the cottage to dry off, ventured out after lunch to Portree, on the way we had a stop and saw Red Breasted Merganser and Great Northern Diver.  The water is crystal clear in the Lochs you can still see the diving birds when they go under the water.

Red Breasted Merganser

Great Northern Diver. These are a bit more difficult to spot as they tend to stay out in the deeper water.

We are off to the small island of Raasay tomorrow hopefully to see Red Deer and Eagles and hoping for better weather tomorrow.