Thursday 19th May van all packed and ready for another road trip to up head to Scotland.
The first stop was to see our son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, nice quality family time.
Friday morning after a hearty breakfast we headed off to Lossiemouth beach, our 15-week-old Springer spaniel Islay’s first experience of a beach, with grandson Loki showing her the way. She loved her first experience at the beach.
Then we heard a roar coming from the airfield, yes a different type of bird the RAF had the Typhoon up, absolutely amazing.
Saturday we had confirmation from Paul Hackett that the Orca was back at Fraserburgh, we headed off with the weather being quite nice although a little breezy.
We met Paul and many others waiting for a glimpse of these magnificent mammals, as they hadn’t been seen for a couple of hours, then came the call “ORCA” all bins and scopes were up, Paul managed to get them in the Kowa 99 scope, just amazing first time I’ve ever seen Orca and they were amazing.
Unfortunately, the weather came in and the heavens opened, it absolutely poured down, a quick run back to the van and get out of our wet clothes, grab a bite to eat and the weather brightened up, Paul rang to say he had the opportunity to go out on the boat to view them, I decided to get the Swarovski ATX 115 and the new Smartscope vario scope adapter.
6 miles out at sea with the Swarovski 115 and an iPhone 13 pro max is not a bad record shot, then below a picture courtesy of Paul Hackett, out at sea on the boat is absolutely breathtaking.
23rd May we headed off on our travels to Fortrose, our campsite was just a short walk from Chanonory point, a well-known spot for Dolphin watching, Monday evening we were in luck
Also Red-breasted Merganser
Tuesday the weather had turned and was very windy, so a nice walk to the falls with Islay, which she enjoyed. Honest 😂
Wednesday was still really windy, a visit to Tain to see the Mermaid of the North, not good for the scope but again Islay enjoyed the walk and the sights
Thursday 26th a trip to Embo beach at Dornoch a stunning beach and hardly a soul in sight, lots of jellyfish washed onto the beach and were visible in the shallows.
On to Golspie and Big Burn falls, whilst walking along the river I caught a fleeting glimpse of what I thought was a Dipper, so hung around for a while, sure enough, our patience paid off 😊 only record images as we hadn’t taken the scope or camera because of the weather
Friday we headed to Aviemore, stayed at a lovely campsite, we had the please of watching Red squirrels, before heading down to Airth for our grandchildren’s birthday parties
We had a lovely time even if the weather wasn’t the best and it was Islay’s first big trip away, she enjoyed it and was tired out by the end of the trip.
The next trip in September is the Isle of Mull, Islay will be older and ready for longer adventures.