November 2021 – Late-Autumn in Scotland
November started with our Eagle Quest short tour on the islands of Islay and Jura. Jewels in the Hebrides, these islands are home to literally tens of thousands of birds and many mammals. Our tour was a real success with lots of great sightings of Eagles, Hen Harriers and Peregrines not to mention the thousands of Barnacle and Greenland White-fronted Geese. We added in some great views of Otters on Jura on what was almost too perfect a day (calm and sunny!) and also repeated our Otter sightings on Islay. We even managed a quartet of American birds including finding a Lesser Scaup alongside American Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck and also a Long-billed Dowitcher.
Just one of the 157 Eagles we saw around Scotland: an adult White-tailed Eagle on Islay
Following this incredible tour we continued on around Scotland leading a private tour over the following 16 days, exploring everywhere from Ardnamurchan and the Cairngorms, to the Moray Firth and Western Isles. This tour was an extravaganza of incredible wildlife with over 140 species of bird and 27 species of mammal recorded. From Minke Whale to Eagles, Pine Marten to Purple Sandpipers we unearthed the very best of winter wildlife in some stunning areas. Flocks of Red Kites, a Mountain Hare in a blizzard, Sanderling scuttling across the beach, Common Dolphins including the rare ‘delphis’ melanistic morph; the tour had a bit of everything!
The rare ‘delphis’ morph of Common Dolphin (left) with a typical individual
By the time we arrived back in Deeside in late-November winter had descended on the glen and with it the trees had lost their colour. There were still things to find locally though and we enjoyed the large local roost of Red Kites and even discovered a Long-tailed Duck on Loch Kinord, a little out of place for this seaduck! Red Squirrels were preparing for the winter by caching as much as could be found, and just as well as over the penultimate weekend of November Deeside was one of the regions struck by Storm Arwen bringing with it loss of power, water and all phone networks to the region. It was certainly a humbling experience having to collect water in the snow from a small mountain spring and cook on the wood burner. The lack of power for several days knocked our plans back a little but we finally prepped ourselves ready to head south to work for Ponant aboard L’Austral on two expedition cruises around the Antarctic. More on this in December!
Back to basics - collecting water from a mountain spring