High Summer

June 30 - hot sunny weather at present, and a superb Hobby flew over the house late morning, mobbed by bold Swifts, Swallows and House Martins. Earlier, a Red Kite was over Cricklade.

Shorncote again.......

26 June -

Barn Owl from the window.......

24 June - A superb Barn Owl was hunting the paddock at dusk this evening, the first I've seen here for several years. A real unexpected bonus on a sunny midsummer evening.

Red Squirrels ! ( and 1 or 2 birds........)

20/21 June - My best-ever views of Red Squirrels in the garden of our guesthouse in Kingussie, coming to the feeders. Superb animals, and I finally got some passable photos.

Highland Birding

20 June - A brief birding interlude during our Munro trip (Keith, Jen, Matt and myself) produced several highlights - a Slavonian Grebe at a traditional site near Strathpeffer, Red-throated Diver on a roadside loch near Achnasheen, and Ospreys on their pylon-eyrie at Lochluichart. Cloudy weather at Ullapool led to a change of plan from Munroing to boat trip.......the Loch Fleet cruise gave good views of a White-tailed Eagle adult, Eiders with chicks, and Black Guillemots and Fulmars around their nesting cliffs, together with wild Rock Doves.

Fannichs........

19 June -

Ben Klibreck

June 18 - A female Ptarmigan with 5 young, and Common Sandpipers on the loch, the highlights of a cloudy windy day in Sutherland......apparently the rest of the UK is basking in sunshine.....,

Scotland..........

17 June - Arrival in Scotland for a 4 day Munro trip with Keith, Jen and Matt. Very windy and showery, compared with summer down South, and a long drive from Edinburgh to Ullapool.......a couple of stops en route, for Slavonian Grebe and an Osprey eyrie, and a windswept Loch Broom outside the window of our accommodation. Hoping for less wind tomorrow.......

One or two raptors

14 June - a fast flyover by a Hobby, also a Red Kite, seen going over today.

Extremadura 5-6 June