Netherlands/Scotland Holiday: part 3 of 4 21st-24th July 2013

(Story continued from part 2)

(I have also included Dutch and Shetland names to birds. Dutch names= Du and Shetland names= Sh)

Sunday the 21st 

This morning I went to the forest

A Green-viened white Butterfly

My kinda ok record shot of my second Jay (Du=Vlaamse Gaai),

 my first being only a day or two before 

 A White Stork (Du=Ooevar)

Monday the 22nd

Today we went to a swimming pool in a town called Leek, it was really fun and afterwards we went to the town centre at Roden to do some shopping.

A lightning struck tree

Tuesday the 23rd

Today we headed back to Amsterdam to get a flight back to Aberdeen, 

from there we went to Mairi's auntie Rona's.

A pylon being fixed

After checking in at the airport at around 10 o'clock we headed to the plane and got on our flight back to Aberdeen.

When we arrived back at Aberdeen, we collected our luggage and headed to Mairi's auntie Rona and uncle Peter's in Scourie (40 miles north of Ullapool)

I would of quite liked to go here

A Steam plant between Aberdeen and Inverness

We reached Ullapool and had a look around for a restaurant for our tea 

Locals taking in the prawns

Can anyone tell me about this boat (LK 37)

and this one (LK 172)

While waiting for our fish and chips, this Herring Gull landed on the roof of the shop a few meters away from me, I got some amazing pictures of it.

Directions sign in Gaelic and English

A castle several miles south of Kylesku

We finally arrived at the caravan in Badcall bay at around 8.30pm

Wednesday the 24th

This morning we went to Rona and Peter's in Duartbeg

A Dunnock or Hedge Sparrow

After a while I went and sat on a bench outside the house so I could watch the birds on the bird table

A Dunnock

"He protects the city, from the shadows"

A Blue Tit in the coconut

A Coal Tit

A Juvenile Robin, Chaffinch and Dunnock

While I was sitting on the bench I spotted a brown thing appear on the edge of some grass next to the house, I wasn't sure what it was until it moved so I could see it's head, it turned out to be a vole but before I could get a picture of it, it bounded over to the grass around the bird table and disappeared. 

A Robin 

Some of us went for a walk in the forest around Rona's

Tiny oak trees

A Scotch Argus

I think this beetle sprays an acid at its enemies to deter them

The head of a Spear Thistle

A Dark Green Fritillary

This Oak tree dates as far back as the start of the English Civil War.

in 1642

After we came back from our walk, we all tucked in for lunch (and a very good one indeed)

This beetle flew straight into my eye and then plopped onto my jumper before it took of and disappeared

A Great Tit

A young Song Thrush

The garden was absolutely full of birds and other wildlife, I spotted Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Dunnock, Blackbird, Robin, Blue, Great and Coal Tit, it might not be a big list but there was lots of birds.

A Toad in Rona's garden

It sat completely still while I was taking photos of it

A close-up of it's eye

A moth in the Caravan

After we came back from Rona and Peter's we went to see Rona's stepmother (Mairi's step grandmother), Edith (who is 95!)and she lives just up the from the caravan.

After about 20 minutes of being at the house Edith asked us (the Bairns) if we'd like to look at the books upstairs (she told us where the books were so it was quite easy to find).

When I got into the room, it was more than just books it was a library with several hundred books mostly on birds! (a paradise of bird knowledge for me to read) with subjects on individual birds, birds of continents, countries, smaller places, it was amazing.

But sadly I didn't have enough time to even read a whole book nevertheless the whole room, but Edith did very kindly let me borrow one book and so I chose "The Fulmar" (part of a big collection of books on individual birds) because I've never known where the fulmars that came to Shetland were from (and after reading most of the book I learnt where the fulmars came from and much much more on the birds themselves)

At 8pm we went for a walk around the south of Badcall

An orchid

St-John's Wort?

Devil's bit Scabious

The light gave us great views of some of the nearby mountains and the bay

The view looking south from Badcall 

(Story continued on part 4 of  our "Netherlands Holiday")