I spent 48 hours (51 hours 10 mins to be precise!) on the Isle of Bute this week, photographing as much wildlife as I could. I had been to Bute three times before but I still did a lot of research before hand, so that I could hit the ground running, as I arrived on the Island at 7:50 am on Tuesday morning.
The wildlife areas that I had highlighted were:
A. the coastline from Mount Stuart to Rhubodach – looking for seals, porpoise/dolphins & otters plus a variety of seabirds
B. Loch Fad/Kirk Dam, Loch Quien, Loch Greenan, Loch Ascog – looking for ospreys, otters, birds & deer
C. Scalpsie Bay, St Ninians Bay, Ettrick Bay, Kilchattan Bay – looking for seals, seabirds & waders
Other factors that I had to take into account were the tides – at low tide, I would head to the coast in search of otters & seals & at high tide, I would head to the inland lochs. Early morning is always a prime time, regardless of tides, as this is when there are fewer people & dogs about. This is the reason that my alarm was set for 4:30 am on both Wed & Thurs mornings!
Whilst I wasn’t relishing the prospect of an alarm going off at 4:30 am on Wednesday morning, I was ecstatic that it did, because exactly 1hour 10mins later, I spotted 3 otters on one of the inland lochs – I am assuming/guessing that it was a mother & 2 cubs. Shortly after, I spotted a couple of roe deer and an hour later the ospreys started to appear and hunt for fish. As you can imagine, the following day (Thurs) I actually woke up before the alarm went & was raring to go!!
Below is a selection of the wildlife that I saw between arriving at 7:50 am on Tuesday until I left at 11:00 am on Thursday morning – the weather was kind & I will certainly return, slightly more informed next time.
PLEASE CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE THE SLIDESHOW