A decent wildlifing weekend:A Merlin! We spotted this small flighty bird at the end of Knapdale Peninsula. We instinctively thought "falcon" but then so small... neither of us even knew what a Merlin was, but we're now sure that was it. We also saw a nice big black and yellow dragonfly:
The Dragonfly is a Golden-ringed - the biggest British insect by length. Quite common on the west coast, I've seen them on Skye before.
Any other Harry Potter-esque goings on?
There's shit loads of young magenpies knocking about this year for some reason...
Quote from: fatneck on September 08, 2016, 01:18:30 pmThere's shit loads of young magenpies knocking about this year for some reason...word!I seem to recall posting on here about seeing 20 or so on the house opposite one morning. all a bit hitchcock. There's too many off them IMHO. Keep digging everything up in the garden, they're slowing raveshing, the place. Had the eggs out of the blackbird nest in our garden too. Feckers. Couple of them are really mangy too, feathers are in really poor nick. Seriously thinking of borrowing a neighbours air rifle and having a bit of a cull.
Definitely not kestrels. Didn't fly like one and were bigger. They were next to the trees really, flying out over the heathland and then darting back in. Looked like they might have been hunting pigeons, trying to scare them out of the trees. It was about the size of a buzzard but much sleeker. Thinner wings, slim square tail. Can't think what else it could be. It was the sort of bird that really made me stand up and look, not something you see every day.
Definitely not an owl. Long eared owls are unmistakeable. They have heavier bodies and quite braod (though long) wings. They also have obvious 'owl' faces. This was a quick flying bird, changing direction rapidly. Thin long wings, thin long body and squarish tail. It also had a small head. Darting in and out of the woods at mid-tree height. Skirting round the edges mostly, and quickly charging in and out. Speckled white and brown plumage. If i'd been somewhere else I would have had no doubts.