Birdlife.

Lots of bird activity in the garden this week - with the usual arrivals of siskins, chaffinches, robins, dunnocks, blackbirds and most members of the tit family. Our first baby robins have been spotted on the bird table and a collared dove came to sit on the roof of the bird house. The great spotted woodpecker has landed on the nuts very fleetingly and the hungry sparrowhawk has been zooming around and scattering all the bird life for hours.
We have seen two quite rare visitors. The first was a pair of brightly coloured bullfinches flitting about on the shrubbery and eating the young blueberries.

Yesterday afternoon we spotted the magnificent osprey hovering over Loch Ness right in front of the house. Unfortunately it was quickly attacked by a family of hooded crows who are nesting nearby. Even though it was much bigger it conceded to the rowdy gang and flew away.
On both occasions I had to be very quick with the camera and only had time to take one photo.

Red squirrels.

Red squirrels are frequent visitors to the nut feeders. Guests at the cottage have watched one sitting on the fence and carefully taking nuts out of the feeders washed down with a drink from the bird bath.It has been a very good year for red squirrels. They must have bred well last year as well as having access to a local plentiful food supply.

Loch Ness Lifeboat.

Been in touch with the new RNLI Lifeboat team based at Temple Pier at Drumnadrochit near Urquhart Castle and they kindly sent more photos and an update of some of their recent rescues. They certainly do a grand job on Loch Ness. From where we live - on the shore of Loch Ness - we often see people on boats not really understanding how dangerous the enchanting and inviting deep waters of the loch can be.

New RNLI lifeboat on Loch Ness.

On Saturday morning we had great excitement when the huge yellow RAF Search and Rescue helicopter whizzed over Loch Ness near the village of Inverfarigaig churning up the waters. On closer investigation we realised it was co-ordinating with the new RNLI lifeboat on the water beneath it.
Launched in April 2008 Loch Ness is now home to the first RNLI lifeboat on the inshore waters of Scotland and it is the first time in 13 years that the RNLI has placed a lifeboat in a new location in Scotland.The joint training exercise with the RAF Search and Rescue helicopter involved the existing local volunteer lifeboat crew undertaking a variety of training exercises as well as operating with the winch.
After actually Publishing this blog I received the following email from the Lifeboat Press Officer/Loch Ness Lifeboat Crew Martin Douglas ...."I have attached a picture taken from the support boat that was acting as a floating base for our relief crew. I took the picture whilst awaiting my turn to drive in the 'Big Wash' ". Thanks for the photo Martin.
See the rescue teams in action.

Red squirrel in the garden.

A cheeky red squirrel had fun and games in the garden early this morning. He had a good look at all the colourful garden ornaments under the bird table and even sat on the head of the concrete squirrel, knocking it over in his quest for peanuts. He quickly found the feeders above him and enjoyed his nutty breakfast. After a long feed he raced down and seemed to look for mischief, his beautiful long tail flying behind him in the breeze. He ran around on the ground for a while and then scampered up to explore the green garden bench.

Sunset on Loch Ness.

A smashing day in the Highlands yesterday and had a very pleasurable day in Inverness for our business and shopping duties. After dinner as we sat outside talking over our day we witnessed a wonderful sunset at 10.45pm -amazing how it's staying lighter later....experience what we saw.

Oh Deer.

This handsome youngster was a welcome visitor to the garden area near the cottage last Saturday morning.We are pretty sure it is a male deer as the downy antlers are now beginning to be quite prominent.We are always amazed by their huge ears.He was quite curious and allowed us to take several photos before bounding back to mum.

They both seemed very happy and content munching away in the warm sunshine.