Highland Interlude

Like many people this year, we decided not to risk a holiday abroad (not that we take these very often anyway). However, we all felt strongly that we didn't want to go to Cornwall yet again. Partly we'd been going there every year and were all wanting a change and partly the issues with the illegal campsite meant that we didn't want to be reminded of that every day of our holiday. So instead we chose to go about as far away from Cornwall as possible, up to the Highlands of Scotland. This is an area that we used to go to quite a lot when the children were younger but it had been many years since we were last there. Back in January we booked a place up by Loch Kishorn (near Applecross) for an eye-watering amount of money thanks to the covid premium on all UK holiday lets this year. After all the turmoil of a second year with this wretched pandemic were were all very much looking forward to getting away. 

We decided to take a couple of days to go up and back again, stopping off overnight in Glasgow each time. On the way up we went via the A9 to Inverness, stopping off at the Abernethy forest at Loch Garten on the way. Some of the members of our party had never been to this area before and we were very taken with this ancient woodland. In passing I managed a brief view of a Crested Tit and by the pond on the approach road there were still some odonata about: lots of Common Emeralds, a few Black Darters and a single Common Hawker. My younger daughter is very much into fungi and we spent a lot of time mushroom spotting - there was loads to see at this time of year.

Abernethy Black Darter

Abernethy Fungus: a Russula species I am told

Our cottage was located right on the shore of Loch Kishorn, a rather sheltered sea loch just south of the Applecross peninsula. The view from the cottage front door across to the Applecross mountain range was spectacular. We went swimming in the loch outside our front door and in the evenings we would often see Otters though they were usually rather distant. At night we would often hear a Tawny Owl calling from behind the cottage.

This was very much a family holiday and not a birding holiday. In fact I was looking forward to being able to relax rather than stressing about trying to see stuff so it was very much going to be birding en passant.  A small river emptied itself into the Loch near where we were and there were always some birds nearby. At low tide quite a lot of mud was exposed and this attracted lots of the usual stuff. Typical birds seen on the estuary were: Oystercatchers, Curlew, Ringed Plover, Goosander, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gulls, Cormorant and Grey Heron whilst along the shoreline were usually a few Hooded Crows. 

You know you are in the Highlands when the crows are all Hooded

 

A Curlew at low tide

We would make various excursions out from our cottage each day and I would keep an eye out for birds of interest as we went along. Near Applecross we saw three Black-throated Divers out in the Inner Sound south of Applecross between the mainland and Raasay. They were making their eerie haunting calls before flying off as a small boat approached them. Over on Skye we went all the way up to Neist Lighthouse right in the north west corner of Skye. As well as amazing scenery with Fulmars nesting on the cliffs I was pleased to spot a few Wheatears and also three Twite making their twangy calls on the wires by the path to the lighthouse. En route to Applecross we did stop off at the summit view point and walked up to the radio mast. I'd read that it was possible to see Ptarmigan up there but didn't manage to spot any. Still the view was stunning.

Alpine Lady's Mantle on top of Sgurr a Chaorachain

Unfortunately the Twite flew off before I could photograph them but this rather distant Wheatear chose to pose nicely on top of one of the cairns that people build by Neist Lighthouse

On the insect front the main sightings (away from the Abernethy region) were Common Hawkers (which are actually common in this area), Keeled Skimmers and Common Darters (probably the "Highland" sub-species). In doing my background reading I learnt that the Applecross peninsula was the stronghold for the Azure Hawker though we were too late in the year for them. On the butterfly front Scotch Argus were reasonably common but I didn't come across much else.

 

A very mature Four-spotted Chaser

A Scotch Argus

 

So it was all very low key but that was really the point. In terms of a family holiday it worked really well and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect: we lucked into a whole week of 21 degrees with sunshine and not a breath of wind - quite unheard of for Scotland! This has certainly whetted our appetite for coming back to the Highlands. Maybe next year I'll come earlier in the season and try to get some of the Odonata and Orchid specialities that can be found in this beautiful part of the country.