It eventually dipped below the hill on our side and we lost it, so we drove off leaving the eagle to his business. Lochranza was just as drizzly as the campsite and so we decided to go for a walk along the sea front to the ferry terminal. As we did I spotted a family of oystercatchers and decided to try for another oystercatcher photo. I was wearing wellies and so could easily cross the small river that led to the shingle bank that they were resting on.
As I did so my mum and dad called me back to where they were. They had found a female red deer (hind) feeding up one of the alleyways. I took a few photos from the bottom of the alleyway and slowly began to move up the alley.
I needed have bothered with stealth! It didn't care at all. I could have touched it I was that close. Eventually it trotted past me and ran across the road to eat the gorse. Lochranza is famous for its deer that run along the road but this year their numbers were heavily set back by the harsh winter.
After that I lost it and so decided to go back to the oystercatchers who, incidentally, were still feeding on the shingle bar. I managed to get quite close but did not want to scare them with young so I backed off eventually.
when I had done that we arrived at the ferry terminal where we found a jackdaw family playing with the ropes and gannets were fishing off shore.
As we walked back a merganser approached us flying across the sea loch. I managed to get some photos as the bird whizzed past. none of them are particularly good but they are the best merganser shots I have ever got.
When we arrived back at the car we decided that we would travel to the far side of the sea loch and go for a walk there, round to the cock of Arran. We had lunch over on that side but nothing happened during lunch except for a heron that started fishing on the beach.
the drizzle started to stop and the cloud began to break up. To get to this side of the village we had to go past the golf course where the deer live allowing for some great shots, although I have only included them of stags because these are the first stags I have seen.
The walk involved going through more sedge/reed growth over a marsh/grassland type of habitat. no sooner had we started the walk than did nature begin to slow me down. At first they only appeared from the woods and I casually dismissed them for peacocks but soon they were flying in front of me and it instantly became obvious what they were. scotch argus! another first for the holiday and for my life. It was one of those butterflys I was afraid I would never see because they live so high up and my family don't drive up to the highlands So I thought that perhaps global warming would have culled them all off by the time I got a car and was able to get up there my-self. I was so pleased to see them because I didn't even know that they lived down this far. I also managed to get some acceptable record photos.
Whilst chasing them all over the marsh I also encountered another of my favourite butterflys-the speckled wood! I rarely see speckled woods so seeing one on "butterfly day", As I have so christened it, was just as special as ever!
There was another type of butterfly fluttering around with the various. I only managed to get one photo of it before I realised that I had left my empty memory card in the car and that this one was full. I had to run all the way back to the car to get another card to take some record shots of these fritillarys. I call them "these fritillarys" because I am unsure about their I.d. The size and distribution suggests dark green because only high-browed and dark-green are the only ones at this size but the white edges to the wings suggest that it is in fact a pearl boarded. I have given it to Dark green but to be frank I cant be too sure. still I am really pleased about seeing them anyway!
On the return journey I managed to spot this grasshopper on a rock which is something I have never seen before. Normally grasshoppers are hiding in deep grass not sat out in the open on a large rock. It was a opportunity not worth missing so I got down to its level and took this photo.
Also there was another of the mysterious cinnabar moth but not a cinnabar moth caterpillar so that's the way it goes.
as we drove off back to the campsite A young male stag appeared from the hill and started to walk towards us. I managed to get a quick snap although it was hard because my dad had not stopped the car fully!
this was our last day on Arran and tomorrow we would be moving over to the mainland for a look at the rhins of Galloway. As a result I knew that time was running out for a raven photo and so I decided to go for a walk along the kildonan Beach to try and find one and just take a record shot. I was slow walking because I manged to find my first and only grey wagtails and dipper of the holiday who were bobbing in a small stream.
I was in a rush so that I would be back in time for tea. Then I spotted a bird flying towards me over the crest of the hill, not a raven but something even better. A ringtail harrier was flying towards me. I could not believe it at first but then it began flying towards me and I tried to take some record photos but failed miserably.
I think, if you use you imagination, then you can see that it is a ringtailed harrier but sadly no ravens for this walk. I took a number of other photos see below but nothing was to prepare me for that harrier. what a sight, and in the nick of time too! tomorrow we would be leaving Arran behind and going to the rhins of Galloway
a curlew
a dunnock
a house martin, nesting in the holiday cottage roofs
And of course, the hooded crows!
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