April 2022: Exploring Islay, Jura and Wester Ross
In contrast to last years frozen April, this year was much warmer and drier and proved to be a superbly successful month with some great guiding around Royal Deeside and also a very successful tour to Islay.
In general, we had a lot of clear and mild weather and with it plenty of early butterflies and moths emerging although many of our favourite summer avian migrants were slow to return as a huge cold weather system over France and Spain blocked their journeys north.
One of the first butterflies to appear locally is the Comma
At the start of the month we had an enjoyable week working in Dorset as part of an exciting new wildlife documentary coming out next year (don’t expect to see our mugs though as we were working with the camera team to ensure they get the best shots possible!). We’ll keep you posted with what, when and where!
Over the Easter weekend and following week we explored Islay and Jura on our spring tour. This island pair rank as one of the top wildlife watching destinations in Scotland for their year-round interest and high quality wildlife encounters and our week long tour was once again testament to their quality. This tour was timed to coincide with what we hoped would be the peak Hen Harrier display activity and we weren’t disappointed with over 50 sightings of these stunning raptors. Throw in 49 eagle encounters, Merlins, Peregrines and Ospreys (including a fascinating tale of one birds journey thanks to reading its ring – read our specific Islay blog update to find out more), Grasshopper Warblers, summer-plumaged Black-tailed Godwits, Greenland White-fronted and Barnacle Geese, Belted Beauty Moths and more. We came away buzzing and grinning from ear to ear from our wildlife encounters.
One of 55 Hen Harrier encounters over the course of the week
Towards the end of the month we had the pleasure of guiding Tristan Cameron Harper of North Guides for a day around Wester Ross. Tristan was working with Wild Scotland to promote outdoor activities including wildlife watching and our day was jam packed with fab sightings from a trio of Otters who snoozed, munched fish and foraged just offshore to Wild Goats grazing lichen, a remarkable battle between three White-tailed Eagles, Golden Eagles, summer-plumaged Great Northern and Black-throated Divers and Slavonian Grebes, Common and Grey Seals and some fascinating rockpooling.
Following on from this brilliant day with Tristan we had a further three days in the dramatic scenery of Sutherland where Spring had well and truly advanced. A few delightful Purple Saxifrages remained in bloom on the chilly north-facing ledges and it was great to see many species back on their breeding grounds including Dotterel, Greenshank, Golden Plover, Black- and Red-throated Divers, Whooper Swan alongside Cuckoo, Wheatear, Merlin and Golden Eagle. We even stumbled across a very smart male Emperor Moth during the day.
A rather smart male Ptarmigan in Sutherland
The month closed for us with a brilliant session guiding a family locally. It’s incredibly motivating to see oodles of enthusiasm and passion for nature in children and it makes us incredibly excited to try and find as much as possible. We managed to show young Oscar and family several new species including Black Grouse and Crossbills, and the look on his face when he peered through the telescope only to have an Osprey staring back at him; priceless! It’s moments like those that make our job very, very satisfying.