Pea Soup and Red Kites!

Apologies for the poor quality of photos - this is my attempt at the red kite

Grey lag goose

this is what the photo should look like!

Donkeys at the Red Kite centre - aargh!

Well another mad weekend - what happened to moving to this Island and taking it easy - I have bookcases full of books I had planned to read when we got here but have hardly made a dent yet!

Friday evening was our Bird Club meeting - we had a talk by the Rev Tony Budell who runs British Humanitarian Aid http://www.britishhumanitarianaid.co.uk/index.html which had some very moving stories and photos. His talk ended with a show of his wildlife photos which is a love of his - fantastic photos.

Then on Saturday morning, my youngster and I were up disgustingly early for a Saturday to join a keen group off to see the Red Kites at Argaty, near Doune. As we waited for the ferry to arrive at Fishnish, we were delighted to see a whooper flying up the Sound - meanwhile, the other party who were travelling from Craignure, our other ferry port, were entertained by 6 dolphins frolicking in the bay "within touching distance" they said. En route to Argaty we made several stops to check out the birds - a dipper up close and personal than I've ever seen before - mute and whooper swans, grey lag geese, eider duck, guillemots, shags, cormorant, long tailed tits and something we dont get on Mull, magpies.

As we got nearer to Doune, the mist descended - the fog got thicker (try saying that after a pint or two) - we arrived at the Red Kite centre - with visibility very poor - but as we got out of the car we could hear the call of the Kites - I have only ever seen one before which was on the Black Isle whilst we we driving down the dual carriageway - so unable to stop the car and have a good look (well, I would have stopped but he who should be obeyed didnt think it was a good idea).

The display went ahead with some food being put out in various locations - first the buzzards appear followed by the kites - we could hear their cries for sometime which made the atmosphere quite spooky in the mist! Finally we saw them appear, first one or two, then finally about 20 in the sky together -really magnificent - unfortunately due to the mist we couldnt appreciate their beautiful colour but could see their silhouette and size. Must do a return trip - hopefully in better weather. On the way back we stopped at The Really Good Food Cafe at Tyndrum (opposite The Green Welly Stop if anyone is familiar) - great home cooking, great price and really friendly staff - well recommended. Think I've got a weekend off this week so may go and check out the sea eagles to see if Cupid has fired his arrow (if you know what I mean!)