Scotland, September 2014, Rosemarkie Day 5

Fabulous sunrise this morning so up early with the camera.  I had a last session down at the point for the dolphins this morning.  Again close views but no leaping.  It was wonderful to see a flock of pink feet flying over though.  In the afternoon we walked along the beach to Rosemarkie and along the other side.  Then back for a BBQ for our last evening here.

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Scotland, September 2014, Rosemarkie Day4

After a night of rain it dawned gloomy and misty but soon cleared into the most magnificent day: bright, warm and sunny with fabulous light.  The light on the Firth tonight as I write is beautiful and it is flat calm.  We have just sat outside the van with our preprandials enjoying the view and the beautiful evening.

Only two dolphins turned up this morning, although very close in.  Unfortunately there were no breaching displays although I again secured some pleasing images.

After lunch outside in the sun we went for a walk up the Fairy Glen where we had amazing views of a very tame dipper and a couple of grey wagtails.  The woods were beginning to take on warm Autumn hues now and at the end of the glen was a delightful waterfall.  From here we drove back over to Udale Bay where I enjoyed an excellent hour’s birding: common and black-headed gulls aplenty, half a dozen herons, several curlews, a few bar-tailed godwits and a single black-tailed, teal and large numbers of wigeon in various states of moult.  It always makes my spine tingle to hear the whistle of wigeon carrying over water or marsh.  A mile or so up the loch was a large raft of scaup which even allowed some photography.

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Bottle-Nosed Dolphins

Bottle-Nosed Dolphins

Bottle-Nosed Dolphins

Bottle-Nosed Dolphins

Bottle-Nosed Dolphins

Amazingwhat turns up when waiting for dolphins

Sea Kayaking, Moray Firth

Sea Kayaking, Moray Firth

Sea Kayaking, Moray Firth, Fort George, home of the Black Watch in the background

Sand Patterns

Sea Kayaking, Moray Firth

Waiting for Dolphins

Fairy Glen Waterfall

Fairy Glen Waterfall

Fairy Glen Reflection

Fairy Glen Reflection

Fairy Glen

Scaup, Udale Bay

Scaup, Udale Bay

Unreal colours at sunset

Scotland, September 2014, Rosemarkie Day3

Up early again this morning and off down the beach again for low tide at 9.00 am.  Not so long to wait this morning before two adult dolphins and a calf swam towards us from the sea ward side with the baby leaping clear of the water.  Annoyingly this was the only clear breach and I had my binoculars to my eye rather than the camera, being somewhat caught by surprise!!  Another excellent morning, though, with about 12 dolphins feeding in the fast current and turbulent waters off the point and, although no stunning images of leaping dolphins, there will be some ‘keepers’.  As well as the usual birds, it was interesting to see a few late guillemots this morning.

After a lunch outside in the sun it was off to Cromarty by a superb back road, which wound high over the headland with excellent views down to the Moray Firth.  The autumn colours in the bracken and the woods added to the gold of harvest fields provided beautiful warm golden colours in the afternoon sun.  Cramarty is a lovely old town, which, judging by it’s impressive buildings and houses, must at some time have been a bustling port of some importance.  Now it is a quiet backwater.

We took another back road along the Cromarty Firth via the Uldale Bay RSPB reserve and what a productive spot this was: curlew, rafts of scaup, noisy redshank, wigeon, mallard, gulls and black tailed godwit. 

It was beer o’clock next and we called in to the quirky local pub in Rosemarkie.  Now I am busy cooking pork with apples, cider and sage for tea.

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