Recent Wildlife Sightings in Glendale, Skye

February

7th

There was a female hen harrier quartering below the top road in Lower Milovaig, early morning (Nick Carter). The black guillemots have returned in full force today, with nine on Loch Pooltiel mid-afternoon.

6th

A white-tailed eagle flew West over the bottom road in Lower Milovaig at 9am (Alison Stables). There were two great northern divers in Loch Dunvegan, off Borreraig, at mid-day.
There were 12 grey seals basking on the skerries in Loch Pooltiel most of the day, which is the highest count  of the year so far.

3rd

Snowing heavily in Glendale at 6pm with already 1 cm of powder snow settled down to sea-level. 2cm by 8pm. All gone by the next morning.

January

31st

There were two red deer on the Milovaig common grazings at Rubha Ban, mid afternoon.
Another very cold day with the occasional sleet and snow shower but not settling.

30th

One of our resident pairs of buzzards in Milovaig has begun to build their nest today, another sign that Spring is on the way. There was a summer plumage black guillemot off the skerries in Loch Pooltiel, late afternoon.
It turned very cold again yesterday, with flurries of sleet and snow throughout yesterday and today, although not settling in Glendale.

25th

The first snowdrops have come into bloom in the garden at 2 Lower Milovaig. Only a day later than last year, despite the harsh winter.

17th

There was a dead male red fox on the bottom road in Upper Milovaig, close to Carters' Rest, today. It had apparently been run over and someone had taken its tail as a trophy.

16th

There was a single summer-plumaged common guillemot off Meanish Pier, mid afternoon. This is the first returning bird of the new season. There were two great northern divers off Meanish Pier at the same time.
The big freeze, that started on December 21st, finally ended yesterday, with temperatures reaching 9.3°C yesterday. Graph.

10th

There were unprecedented numbers of woodcock in Milovaig today, with at least 10 birds feeding and flying openly around the loop, early afternoon, including one group of four feeding openly together on an unfrozen patch of ground behind 2 Lower Milovaig. There were also 6 common snipe flushed around the loop and still one jack snipe, today seen on the burn through 6 Upper Milovaig.
This was the coldest day so far of the 'big freeze' with the temperature falling to -4.1°C at 8:30am in Lower Milovaig.

9th

Our problem red fox in Milovaig took a hen at Carters' Rest, mid morning and then returned again, just before dusk, to try again (Steve & Julie Carter).
There was an otter feeding off the white beach at Upper Milovaig at 4pm, which gradually worked its way out into the middle of Loch Pooltiel.
There was a group of four lapwings on the bottom road in Lower Milovaig, early morning. The peregrine falcon is still around Milovaig, seen this afternoon below the bottom road in Lower Milovaig in front of Gandhi's caravan. A total of 6 woodcock, 2 common snipe and a curlew were counted along the bottom road between 2 Lower Milovaig and MacDougal's spruces just before dusk.

8th

There was a jack snipe in the middle of the bottom road in Upper Milovaig at 7:50am, brilliantly lit by the car headlights.
A very cold day on Skye with temperatures falling to -2.9°C in Milovaig, -8.0°C in Dunvegan and -12.0°C in Portree.

6th

The diurnal red fox at Milovaig took another three hens from the garden at 12 Upper Milovaig at mid-day (Andrea Cross).
A belated report of killer whales at Milovaig on the 1st has just come in. See below for more details.

5th

At 11am, there was an immature white-tailed eagle carrying pink tags soaring around Leinish Bay, off Totaig (Jim Adams). At 2pm, the peregrine falcon was seen again, coming in off Loch Pooltiel at the allt mor burn, flying behind the Clelands' house and then landing on Beinn Bhuidhe between 15 & 16 Upper Milovaig, giving superb close views (Clare Grey).

4th

Another jack snipe was caught in the car headlights beside the bottom road in Upper Milovaig at 5pm.

3rd

There was a stunning jack snipe in a road-side drain on the seaward end of the Milovaig Loop, early afternoon. This is the first time that we have recorded this species in Glendale. There was a single golden plover below the bottom road on Croft 1 Lower Milovaig, mid-morning. There was a lone male goosander off the white beach at Lower Milovaig all day. There were no divers on Loch Pooltiel today and most of the meadow pipits and continental thrushes seem to have moved on.
We recorded a minimum temperature of -3.8°C in Lower Milovaig last night. This was the coldest night, so far, of the big freeze that we are having. For anyone interested, a graph of the temperatures can be viewed here.

2nd

At around 1:30pm, a peregrine falcon flew low, North along the bottom road in Lower Milovaig. These are very scarce visitors to Milovaig, although they do breed on Glendale Estate. The over-wintering chiffchaff at Lower Milovaig was again seen this afternoon in MacDougal's spruces, near Meanish Pier. The bird was calling repeatedly, which may indicate that there is a 2nd bird present.
Two white-tailed eagles put on a good flying display over Loch Dunvegan, off Totaig, today and spent over an hour sunning themselves on one of the islets. A third bird carrying yellow/orange tags was also seen in the same area (June & Jim Adams).

1st

A pod of three killer whales was seen heading North off Rubha Ban. This was probably a family group, as the individuals were each of different sizes. The large dorsal fin and black/white colouration were clearly visible (Ewan Halley).
There were 3 golden plovers on the white beach at Lower Milovaig all day. A stunning female merlin was hunting along the shoreline at Meanish Pier, early afternoon, before flying across Loch Pooltiel to Ferinquarrie. There were two red-throated divers feeding very close to Meanish Pier, early afternoon. There was a New Year eagle-fest in Milovaig between 3pm and 3:30pm. An immature white-tailed eagle was soaring low over the white beach at Lower Milovaig, gradually drifting towards the pier, where it was joined by an immature golden eagle. The golden eagle stayed with it for around 10 minutes, both swirling around together above the pier, before the goldie flew over to Beinn Bhuidhe for 10 minutes, then headed on towards Lephin. The white-tailed eagle then flew back to Beinn Bhuidhe where it remained soaring low over the houses between Bob & Anna's and Carter's Rest, before it too made off in the direction of Lephin.
Just for interest, these are grainy photos of the eagles, taken at the time, that illustrate the distinct differences between the two species:

Immature Golden Eagle at Lower Milovaig

Immature White-Tailed Eagle at Lower Milovaig

A very happy New Year to all the regular readers of this blog!
2-4cm of snow fell overnight and freezing temperatures made the roads very icy for the whole of, what was, a beautiful, clear sunny day.

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