Red squirrel enjoying lunch.

On Saturday as we were cleaning the holiday cottage we looked out of the lounge window and noticed a cheeky red squirrel helping himself to the nuts from the bird feeders.He stayed for about twenty minutes,delicately removing the outer husks and then chomping on the nuts inside.After a drink at the bird bath he scampered back into the forest at the side of the cottage....a magical sight.

Honeysuckle everywhere.

This year the wild honeysuckle is really growing in profusion. The plants can be seen everywhere, delicately winding their tendrils in the hedgerows and around the branches of trees. They produce a riot of colour and emit beautiful fragrant scents into the air.

Young red squirrels at play.

A family of a mother and her young 3 red squirrel 'kittens' have been regular visitors to the nut feeders for the last few weeks...even saw one of them this evening on the nut feeders as we were welcoming our new guests into the holiday cottage and they were thrilled. We have never seen so many red squirrels in the local area as we have in 2008 and they are now regular visitors to the nut feeders every morning... still can't stop being captivated by their antics.

Boating craft take to the water.

The beginning of July has seen alot more boating craft of all different shapes and sizes take to the water of Loch Ness. The weather has been quite fair and we did not have the torrential rain predicted by the forecasters...in fact it was quite pleasant and we sat out and enjoyed watching the boats pass by.

Just Hanging around.....

The red squirrels can be very acrobatic and entertaining in their quest for food and are often seen on the nut feeders in the early morning.
They have rather short front legs but long hind legs which are a great aid for leaping about among the branches and away from any danger. They also have amazing sharp claws which can be extremely useful when hanging almost upside down as this cheeky one demonstrates.