We set aside a day for venturing to Loch Ruthven, south east of Loch Ness, in the hope of seeing Slavonian Grebes in breeding plumage. These birds are Winter visitors to Orkney, but do not breed here, and don't wear their Summer colours during the stay. Come the day, the weather was dreich, with a steady and unrelenting rain falling from a grey sky and dripping from the Scots Pines around the cottage. However, checking the forecast for Inverness, it appeared that it was a different day there. More in hope than expectation, we set off anyway, and as we crossed the Slochd summit, heading north, the sun was indeed shining.
No sooner were we ensconced in the hide at the RSPB reserve of Loch Ruthven, when an Osprey drifted through. It being April, it was still chilly despite the drier weather, but we were eventually rewarded with a view of a pair of Slav Grebes.
To warm up again, we decamped to a tea room and farm shop near Foyers for a well-earned bowl of soup and some cake. With no firm plan for the rest of the afternoon, we decided to search for a nearby small lochan. On reflection, I don't think we found it, but we ended up walking along a forestry track through recent felling, with a water-filled ditch on one side. On first glance, it didn't look very promising, but any doubts were soon dispelled when a couple of Peacock butterflies landed on a verge, and then we found a patch of Barren Strawberry in flower. Further along the track, a large Drinker Moth caterpillar was basking on a rock, and then we noticed that there were newts in the ditch. The males were trying to impress the females, but their moves mustn't have been up to scratch as they weren't having much success.
A cloud covered the sun and the temperature dropped markedly. An Early Bumblebee was caught out by this turn of events and hunkered face down on a Dandelion flower, presumably hoping that the nectar would hold out until the sky's warmth returned.
We retraced our steps and drove to the village of Foyers to visit its eponymous Falls. We were much, much warmer by the time we had climbed back up the steep gorge to the village!
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| Slavonian Grebe |
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| Peacock butterfly |
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| Drinker Moth caterpillar |
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| Newts a-courting |
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| Early Bumblebee |
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| Falls of Foyers |
Next time: Over the Snow Road to Dinnet
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