Peregrine Falcon

I am lucky enough to have two Peregrine Falcon territories close to where I live. This morning I left home early hoping to get some flight shots. The breeding attempt is late this year. The young usually fledge by early June, but so far there is no sign of any young. They are probably too small to venture out from the protection of the rock that is in front of the eyrie.

The Female

Interesting Gull at Shawell A5 Lagoons

I saw an interesting gull last Wednesday and again yesterday at Shawell A5 Lagoons. Initially I thought it was a Yellow-legged Gull due to its grey mantle being slightly darker than the nearby Herring Gulls. However, something didn't seem right as its sleek body and long wings gave it more of a Caspian Gull look, but the bill seemed too bulky and bright for that species.

Interesting Gull

The Mighty Liathach

Last year I sampled the delights of Liathach but not the complete ridge. I had Dawn with me and she wasn't keen on tackling the Am Fasarinen Pinnacles, so we turned back after the first major summit.

Reading about these pinnacles conjures up all sorts of nightmares in your head but what would it actually be like?

Liathach From Loch Clair

Grebes, Whitethroats and Summer Gulling

It felt more like winter gulling on Saturday morning, as the wind was bitter cold. I could have done with a pair of gloves - isn't it supposed to be warm in June?

I wasn't really expecting to see that many gulls during my visit to Cotesbach landfill site and Shawell A5 Lagoons, but at least 300 were present. Mostly immatures, but quite a few were adults. Most were Lesser Black-backed Gulls, but amongst them were 18 Herring Gulls, one first-summer Great Black-backed Gull and a second-summer Yellow-legged Gull.

Six colour ringed LBB Gulls were seen: two at the landfill site and four at the lagoons. Only the ones at the lagoons were readable, as the wind was too strong at the landfill site.

LBB Gull (DPDS) was ringed in Suffolk last July and spent its first winter near Agadir, Morocco.

1st-summer LBB Gull (DPDS)

A Close Call on An Ruadh Stac

Sam and I were both keen to climb An Ruadh Stac since first seeing it whilst climbing Moal Chean-dearg. The day before we had passed close by, but decided against climbing it then as it was raining hard and the Quartzite slabs on its lower slopes are very slippery when wet.

We set off a bit late on the day, but made reasonable time and arrived at the base of the climb at lunchtime. We paused to eat by some small lochans that looked like balancing lakes, due to them being at different elevations.

The Lochans at the Base of An Ruadh Stac