Raptors

The buzzard may be the most common of the local raptors but it doesn't make this bird any less impressive. It's only when one sees one up close - usually perched on a post and approached in a car - that one realises how large they are.

They have a hard life. There isn't a bird, large or small, that doesn't find pleasure in harassing them, even though they don't hunt birds, and they are persecuted unmercifully by the local crows.

Occasionally we see much rarer raptors. This merlin was captured by the Raptor at Sanna, while we also have visits from hobbies and hen harriers. At one time we used to see peregrines over Ormsaigbeg.

Kestrels seem to come and go. Sometimes we have one around almost every day. Sometimes we don't see one in weeks. This one spent time hunting in the grass in front of our house, giving us plenty to watch while we ate our lunch.

Sparrowhawks do a good job of clearing out the mass of house sparrows and chaffinches that clutter our bird feeders at this time of year. Watching one hunting is a pleasure: they fly low and fast, perhaps along a hedge or wall before suddenly angling over it to catch their prey unawares.

The golden eagle may be losing its battle to dominate the skies over Ardnamurchan. This pair was flying high above Ormsaigbeg but it's much more usual now to see....

....these birds, the monarchs of the raptors, the sea eagles. We've been seeing more each year, and there are reports that one pair has, for the first time, nested this summer on western Ardnamurchan.

They can be very inquisitive birds. This is a juvenile which flew low, in long circles above us, until we began to think that we might end up as its lunch.

This magnificent adult pair hung above the Ardnamurchan Campsite for some minutes, giving those campers who had their eyes open a rare treat.

A very special 'thank you' to this juvenile sea eagle which took some trouble to position itself so I could take a picture of it soaring against a waning moon.

Many thanks to the Raptor for the use of his picture.