Holiday wildlife

We went to Scotland hoping to see some wildlife. We are not patient enough to sit for hours just waiting for animals to decide to pop along for a short visit and don't particularly relish travelling miles searching out particular animals. We can sit in a bird hide for a little while if there is something to watch but just can't sit for hours watching a lake where the only birds visible are pinpricks in the distance. We quite like to spot things as we are out and about! I suppose in this sense we are lazy wildlife watchers not really having staying power.

This is maybe one reason that we didn't manage to see everything we had hoped to see and photograph.

Most of our encounters happened in the garden of the cottage that we rented. On an evening we watched bats circling but I'm afraid to capture a photo of any was just impossible. 

Our second encounter was also a bit too quick to take a photo of and was a hare that decided to run across the lawn and up the embankment before heading up the drive.

Birds were constantly flittering and twittering in the trees with many of the same species as we get in our garden paying a visit. 

After our journey to Scotland we ended up with quite a bit of dry bread so I decided to soak it in water and see what came along. We got a bit more than we had bargained for as we soon acquired a pair of resident pheasants. According to the RSPB these birds must have been on the edge of their range even though we saw plenty in fields and along roadsides as we travelled along.

The male pheasant became very vocal once the food supply ran out - fortunately we had enough bread to keep them happy for the week..

His wife was less demanding and would happily browse in the undergrowth after tucking in to bread pudding.

They weren't very tolerant of any other birds that chose to join them but the many chaffinches took their chances.

The song thrush and pied wagtail preferred to just watch all the activity from a safe distance. I also heard, but didn't, see grouse usually in the late afternoon to early evening.

There were plenty of common gulls on the many lochs. I wonder why many people still call them seagulls.

In the woods we kept catching fleeting glimpses of roe deer mainly the flash of a disappearing white rump until that is one female accidentally ended up on our side of the fence.

She paced and trotted up and down looking for a way out and was very wary of the feisty male pheasant.

She kept looking at the closed gate that opened into the wooded area so Martyn went out and opened it for her. Eventually she braved the pheasant on sentry duty and escaped through to join her friend - or were they more than just friends? - on the other side of the fence.

The male's antlers are still in velvet.

And then I know what you are wondering - did we see it - well what do you think?


Just look really carefully at the photo below:

Can you see it? If not here is a closer view>

No-one else was about to see it but we had a great view of it from our holiday cottage!