Eagle-eyed

I've just returned from an overnighter to Cairngorm, followed by a visit to Sleat in the southern part of Skye on the way back. The night drive onto the mainland was productive, with a Pine Marten a few miles before the Skye Bridge and a Badger scampering across the road close enough to make me hit the brakes just a few miles after the bridge. Throw in the usual Red Deer and Roe Deer, plus a few unidentified bats, and it was quite the mammalfest! Somehow I've yet to see a Wood Mouse this year, they are usually easy to see leaping across the roads of a night but I've blanked thus far. 

Cairngorm itself was crowded so I restricted myself to the Coire na Ciste ridge, which is probably my favourite area anyway. I bimbled upwards for a while, saw some nice stuff, then bimbled back down again in the pouring rain. Luckily I had brought my waterproof gear with me. Annoyingly I'd left it in the car far below. 

The Coire na Ciste ridge path

I found a lovely little pool that I've always walked past without noticing before and stumbled into a cushion of Trailing Azalea just coming into flower. 

 

Several dead frogs in here, I'm surprised they're up this high! 

Plant highlights were the Trailing Azalea, Interrupted Clubmoss and Three-leaved Rush. No sign of Dwarf Cornel or Sheathed Sedge yet, I guess it must be too early for the shoots to appear. 

Interrupted Clubmoss is locally common amongst the dwarf shrub layer

Fir Clubmoss looking like a Phoenix emerging from the ashes!

Skye was drenched in sunlight upon my return, hence the decision to visit Sleat in search of inverts. I found my first Green Hairstreak and Speckled Woods of the year. Migrant birds were in good voice with three singing Whinchats being the passerine highlight. But I almost fell over backwards as a pair of Golden Eagles appeared from over a ridge and decided to circle directly above me for several minutes! I don't mean to sound flippant, but I live on Skye and therefore I see both eagle species more often than most folks probably do. But I'm confident that I've never before seen Golden Eagles as well, or as low, or for so long, as I have today. And I mean ever.

It's looking vertically downwards - straight at me!!!!

The younger bird seemed to be showing a great deal of interest in me. I don't know what caught its attention, but it wheeled directly overhead for a good length of time, sometimes joined by the older bird whereupon they would wheel higher and wider, but then breaking off and almost inevitably returning to fly directly over me once more. Maybe it was simply curious. Maybe it was hungry. Maybe it had never seen a grown man sitting in the grass laughing to himself in amazement. None of my images show the uppertail pattern of the young bird, but judging by the extent of white at the base of the tail feathers and the lack of moulted flight feathers I think it must be last year's bird with one of its parents.

These huge birds soared in tandem across the hillsides, across the heather-clad slope that I sat on, across the woodland and then, after about ten minutes, slowly drifted over a hill and were gone. What an incredible experience. Living this far north does admittedly come with a few disadvantages, but bloody hell you folks in the south can keep your egrets, parakeets, woodpeckers and whatnot. I'll happily make do with crippling views of giant raptors, thank you very much.