I had thought long and hard about what I wanted to do for my 50th Birthday, from the exotic to the plebeian, in the end I decided to take a week off, actual Birthday was on the Monday, and head to my favourite part of Scotland, if not the World, the West coast of Scotland.
As a few of you are aware, I like my toys, and one of them is my Boxster, it has a lot going for it, but one thing its not renowned for is its luggage space. Recently I had purchased a inflatable canoe, its maiden voyage was with Groovski and Shewie on Loch Fyne a few weeks ago, and I wanted to take it along, so along with a LJ and a few small items one man tent, stove etc, that filled the front boot, Porsche engine is situated just behind the seats, and so luckily there is also a rear boot.
That took a surprising amount, including my fishing gear, camera tripod, rucksack, leaving just a cooler bag, hotel bag and my camera gear in the passenger well/seat.
With our recent trip to Tarbert on the Argyll/Kintyre peninsular fresh in my memory, I decided to head back that way but travel further on to the West coast and Taylinloan, which is opposite Gigha an Island just off the coast.
I had stayed overnight in Tarbert, but was on the road just after 8:00, sky was overcast,
but as I reached the coast it started to brighten up, to this.
Seals sunning themselves
Mermaids purse (Dogfish egg sack)
I had thought Id wild camp somewhere along the coast, but the campsite just north of Taylinloan, was right on the beach, so I decided to spend a few days there.
The land mass in the distance is Gigha. The weather was glorious, at least on the Saturday and the Sunday
On Sunday I drove down to Campbeltown and back North on the east side so I could get some pictures of Davaar Island
The weather couldnt have been better
This is back at the camp site, late afternoon, things were about to change however ! a storm front came in from the South,
Amazingly for all its temper, not a drop of rain fell on the camp site, spectacular to watch tho, as it travelled up the coast.
I took heed of its warning, and battened down the hatches, the tarp (Kathmandu) I had deployed as a sunshade, now was pressed into service for the rains that were to come.
Sunday evening we were treated to an amazing sunset, I have lots of photos of this; here are a few of the highlights;
Monday, my Birthday, was a washout, it rained almost continually all day, never mind, drove South again, this time West from Campbeltown to Machrihanish Bay,
Met this cute little fella on the way back
Very strange weather patterns on this coast
Shortly after
That night
I decided on the Tuesday that Id head North up the coast to Oban, when I got there first port of call was the seafood place on the quay, crab sandwich, just for a change, lovely stuff.
On the spur of the moment I checked the next sailing to Mull, which turned out to be in an hours time, so I decide to head over, leaving Oban
I always really enjoy my visits there, and last time saw a few otters, although the photos were dots in the distance, I was determined to do better this time. The weather for the rest of the week was to be changeable at best, so I decided to forgo camping for the rest of the trip and base myself in a hotel in Tobermory, yeah, yeah, wimp <shrug> its my Birthday I can do what I want. I have a few favourites when I visit Tobermory; the Tobermory hotel, and the Park Lodge, I got into the Tobermory hotel for the first night, but they were fully booked for the rest of the week, as was the Park, luckily a guest house next door had room for me for the rest of the week.
On the Wednesday I headed out in search of Otters, my last visit, I had come across them in 3 places, the harbour in Tobermory, (which I found out now had 2 there on a regular basis), just outside Salen, where 3 old fishing boats are tied up, and Calgary bay, which was my first port as I had only been there by boat before.
(From original post) I was walking along a track from Calgary bay, past the quay, maybe 200 metres when I came across a water cut heading for the sea, I had just thought to myself, thats a perfect entry for an Otter, took another step, and theres a (turned out to be a Mink) heading towards me along the cut, we both stop, have a look at each other and the Mink decides to carry on, meanwhile numpty me still has his camera in the bag
, so hes walking straight for me, I'm trying to get the camera out and turned on.....velcro...riiip, Mink jumps about 2 ft in the air and disappears, bugger, bugger, bugger, take the camera out anyway, and up he pops for another look
He/she was a decent size, perhaps over 2 ft nose to tail tip.
The second encounter, was one coming in from the sea, I didnt know they did that, so was sure I had an Otter in my sights, but when it reached the rocks, you can see by the body shape its not an Otter
Third encounter I didnt get a photo, the little beggar was moving too fast in the rocks, less than a foot long, but it jumped in and out of the water with no problem, it did take time to shake itself every time it reached another rock.
Forth encounter, this is in one day within maybe 100 metres of the first sighting, over maybe a 3 hr period. And I think this is an Otter, look at the whiskers, unfortunately it saw me, dived and disappeared.
Next Day, I had arranged a visit to Loch Frisa to see the Sea Eagles, but that was in the afternoon so I drove down to Salen, I know there was Otters there as I saw them there last time I visited, about 300 metres back towards Tobermory from the 3 old fishing vessels. I had only been there maybe 15 mins, there seems always to be seals on the small Island, and the Otters fish all around it, there were 2 in the bay that morning, but one decided to come ashore, I figured out where it would come ashore and was there to greet it;
It used a storm drain pipe to access the woods behind the road, very clever.
BTW This was a definite in between the rain week, the rain would be bouncing off the road one minute, and the same road would be steaming in the sun a few minutes later, very strange.
That afternoon as I said I had a ranger led trip to Loch Frisa to see the Sea or White tailed eagles, the big ones have a ten foot wingspan. They are related to the American Bald Eagle, and are bigger than the Golden Eagle.
I must admit this was a disappointment, although we did see the Eagles it was at extreme range, there were no nest cameras, or hides near the nest, the lodge we were taken to must have been half a mile away from the nest (which wasnt visible), and both female guides seemed more interested in spouting politics than anything else, but I suppose for the princely sum of £4 not really much to complain about.
The best out of about 200 photos, most with a 600mm cat lense, not a happy bunny
On my last day, Friday I decide to do a tour of the coast cutting across the Island from Salen to Laggan Bay with Ulva Island just off the coast then along the coast road back to Calgary bay, hopefully to see more Otters and perhaps Mink.
My only regret this trip was because the visit to Mull wasnt planned I didnt bringing OS 1:25k maps along, there are loads of Archeological sites on Mull, most of which I probably drove past because I didnt know they were there. There are standing stones, duns(forts), stone circles, even Brochs on the Island. Ah well next time
The coast route didnt disappoint, seriously spectacular views, again, the rain came and went, in the photos it may look like they were taken on different days, they werent, a couple of hours at most. A famous saying in Scotland If you dont like the weather, wait a minute, itll change, another is The only place where you can see all 4 seasons in one day.
No Otters today, but like I said the scenery was spectacular.
Im planning to go back later on in the year, maybe September.
Cheers
Stephen
As a few of you are aware, I like my toys, and one of them is my Boxster, it has a lot going for it, but one thing its not renowned for is its luggage space. Recently I had purchased a inflatable canoe, its maiden voyage was with Groovski and Shewie on Loch Fyne a few weeks ago, and I wanted to take it along, so along with a LJ and a few small items one man tent, stove etc, that filled the front boot, Porsche engine is situated just behind the seats, and so luckily there is also a rear boot.
That took a surprising amount, including my fishing gear, camera tripod, rucksack, leaving just a cooler bag, hotel bag and my camera gear in the passenger well/seat.
With our recent trip to Tarbert on the Argyll/Kintyre peninsular fresh in my memory, I decided to head back that way but travel further on to the West coast and Taylinloan, which is opposite Gigha an Island just off the coast.
I had stayed overnight in Tarbert, but was on the road just after 8:00, sky was overcast,
but as I reached the coast it started to brighten up, to this.
Seals sunning themselves
Mermaids purse (Dogfish egg sack)
I had thought Id wild camp somewhere along the coast, but the campsite just north of Taylinloan, was right on the beach, so I decided to spend a few days there.
The land mass in the distance is Gigha. The weather was glorious, at least on the Saturday and the Sunday
On Sunday I drove down to Campbeltown and back North on the east side so I could get some pictures of Davaar Island
The weather couldnt have been better
This is back at the camp site, late afternoon, things were about to change however ! a storm front came in from the South,
Amazingly for all its temper, not a drop of rain fell on the camp site, spectacular to watch tho, as it travelled up the coast.
I took heed of its warning, and battened down the hatches, the tarp (Kathmandu) I had deployed as a sunshade, now was pressed into service for the rains that were to come.
Sunday evening we were treated to an amazing sunset, I have lots of photos of this; here are a few of the highlights;
Monday, my Birthday, was a washout, it rained almost continually all day, never mind, drove South again, this time West from Campbeltown to Machrihanish Bay,
Met this cute little fella on the way back
Very strange weather patterns on this coast
Shortly after
That night
I decided on the Tuesday that Id head North up the coast to Oban, when I got there first port of call was the seafood place on the quay, crab sandwich, just for a change, lovely stuff.
On the spur of the moment I checked the next sailing to Mull, which turned out to be in an hours time, so I decide to head over, leaving Oban
I always really enjoy my visits there, and last time saw a few otters, although the photos were dots in the distance, I was determined to do better this time. The weather for the rest of the week was to be changeable at best, so I decided to forgo camping for the rest of the trip and base myself in a hotel in Tobermory, yeah, yeah, wimp <shrug> its my Birthday I can do what I want. I have a few favourites when I visit Tobermory; the Tobermory hotel, and the Park Lodge, I got into the Tobermory hotel for the first night, but they were fully booked for the rest of the week, as was the Park, luckily a guest house next door had room for me for the rest of the week.
On the Wednesday I headed out in search of Otters, my last visit, I had come across them in 3 places, the harbour in Tobermory, (which I found out now had 2 there on a regular basis), just outside Salen, where 3 old fishing boats are tied up, and Calgary bay, which was my first port as I had only been there by boat before.
(From original post) I was walking along a track from Calgary bay, past the quay, maybe 200 metres when I came across a water cut heading for the sea, I had just thought to myself, thats a perfect entry for an Otter, took another step, and theres a (turned out to be a Mink) heading towards me along the cut, we both stop, have a look at each other and the Mink decides to carry on, meanwhile numpty me still has his camera in the bag
, so hes walking straight for me, I'm trying to get the camera out and turned on.....velcro...riiip, Mink jumps about 2 ft in the air and disappears, bugger, bugger, bugger, take the camera out anyway, and up he pops for another look
He/she was a decent size, perhaps over 2 ft nose to tail tip.
The second encounter, was one coming in from the sea, I didnt know they did that, so was sure I had an Otter in my sights, but when it reached the rocks, you can see by the body shape its not an Otter
Third encounter I didnt get a photo, the little beggar was moving too fast in the rocks, less than a foot long, but it jumped in and out of the water with no problem, it did take time to shake itself every time it reached another rock.
Forth encounter, this is in one day within maybe 100 metres of the first sighting, over maybe a 3 hr period. And I think this is an Otter, look at the whiskers, unfortunately it saw me, dived and disappeared.
Next Day, I had arranged a visit to Loch Frisa to see the Sea Eagles, but that was in the afternoon so I drove down to Salen, I know there was Otters there as I saw them there last time I visited, about 300 metres back towards Tobermory from the 3 old fishing vessels. I had only been there maybe 15 mins, there seems always to be seals on the small Island, and the Otters fish all around it, there were 2 in the bay that morning, but one decided to come ashore, I figured out where it would come ashore and was there to greet it;
It used a storm drain pipe to access the woods behind the road, very clever.
BTW This was a definite in between the rain week, the rain would be bouncing off the road one minute, and the same road would be steaming in the sun a few minutes later, very strange.
That afternoon as I said I had a ranger led trip to Loch Frisa to see the Sea or White tailed eagles, the big ones have a ten foot wingspan. They are related to the American Bald Eagle, and are bigger than the Golden Eagle.
I must admit this was a disappointment, although we did see the Eagles it was at extreme range, there were no nest cameras, or hides near the nest, the lodge we were taken to must have been half a mile away from the nest (which wasnt visible), and both female guides seemed more interested in spouting politics than anything else, but I suppose for the princely sum of £4 not really much to complain about.
The best out of about 200 photos, most with a 600mm cat lense, not a happy bunny
On my last day, Friday I decide to do a tour of the coast cutting across the Island from Salen to Laggan Bay with Ulva Island just off the coast then along the coast road back to Calgary bay, hopefully to see more Otters and perhaps Mink.
My only regret this trip was because the visit to Mull wasnt planned I didnt bringing OS 1:25k maps along, there are loads of Archeological sites on Mull, most of which I probably drove past because I didnt know they were there. There are standing stones, duns(forts), stone circles, even Brochs on the Island. Ah well next time
The coast route didnt disappoint, seriously spectacular views, again, the rain came and went, in the photos it may look like they were taken on different days, they werent, a couple of hours at most. A famous saying in Scotland If you dont like the weather, wait a minute, itll change, another is The only place where you can see all 4 seasons in one day.
No Otters today, but like I said the scenery was spectacular.
Im planning to go back later on in the year, maybe September.
Cheers
Stephen
