Inverewe and Loch Maree

This post may not by the most productive of the Scotland trip, but on the average size of new birds ticked, its a winner for the year.

Pronoun guidance: AB1 keeping his eyes on the road. This post covers the events of July 5th, 2018.

Inverewe Gardens

The next day begins with a trip to Inverewe Gardens. Now. Strictly, no ticks occurred here, although we did come across a very friendly Song Thrush and a family of Treecreepers.

That said, this was still an eye-opening place; the range (and vivacity) of what's grown here is borderline unbelievable, given the latitude, and the clever tricks the original designers pulled to make it all work are equally captivating. If you're in the area, go.

Inverewe to Badachro

We leave Inverewe rather later than we'd expected. Having planned to take in lunch in a pub for a change (there's only so much Spanish omelette one can eat in a week), we know we've got around ninety minutes to get from Inverewe round to the Badachro Inn. That gives us around an hour of leeway for exploring. Gordon instructs us that the road following the Western shore of Loch Ewe isn't a bad bet for White-tailed Eagle, and that's basically right next to Inverewe itself, so we give it a go.

The first part of this drive North is alongside the parts of Loch Ewe we've already given a lot of scanning time to from the gardens. As such, we don't pay an enormous amount of attention. The Loch widens out as we get past the Isle of Ewe, and the view from the road does too. We agree that this area needs focus, and that AB2 should be chief Eagle focusser, given the necessity of keeping the car on the road falls to AB1.

Barely five seconds later, AB2 pipes up. "What's that?" A quick glance away from the road yields a couple of gulls are meandering around on the right; but before I can raise an eyebrow to open a round of the "you're making it up" game, a larger shape a bit higher up hoves into view. I bring the car to a halt in what must be the world's best placed passing place and have a proper look. Yeah, that thing is bloody enormous; all the talk of flying barn doors that I've heard now makes a bit more sense.

The car is swiftly exited to obtain a better view; binoculars only though - this eagle isn't hanging about. It quickly gains several hundred metres worth of altitude and then effortlessly floats off to the North-West. From barn door to barely visible in a couple of minutes; I can see how other folks have been unlucky enough to not cross paths with these birds.

A very pleasant lunch in Badachro follows, most notable for the reverse in our usual fortunes. For once, we are the organised people arriving during the half hour of food being served. An angry couple turning up just as we're served ("how come they're getting food then?") provides us with some additional schadenfreude.

The food gives us enough time to think about plans. The West Coast, at this point, probably isn't going to offer many more opportunities for the year list. There will likely be some epic scenery on offer (Torridon/Applecross is supposed to be spectacular, and Skye is supposed to be pretty special too), but the only thing we might pick up there that we haven't already is Golden Eagle, by our interpretation of Gordon and some close examination of BirdTrack records. Alternatively, we could head back East and have a crack at a more varied set of environments - the Glens, Loch Ruthven, Findhorn Valley, Cairngorms, etc.

Go East!

We decide East, and set out that way as soon as lunch has had time to settle. A first stop on the edge of Loch Maree provides a decently effortful walk up to the tops. There are no Ptarmigan there, but the views are something else. It's also deserted; we see perhaps two other groups of people across four hours of walking. At this point, I am glad the readership of this journal will be limited; I'm not sure I want to share this hill with anyone else when we go back.

A mildly perilous descent keeps us entertained on the way back to the car.

A long (but enjoyable) drive gets us to Beauly, and our least friendly campsite of the journey so far. Hmm. Well, at least it positions us nicely for the first part of the next day, i.e...