Glen Astle to Lenavore on The Oa

Mark, Lorna and I had a looooooooong day out on The Oa yesterday, in glorious weather. We walked down Glen Astle, turned left and walked back to the road via Giol and Fang Dhu. Prepared for the worst, we ended up carrying far too much excess clothing and not enough sun cream! We had a fantastic day (excluding the clegs and the grand-daddy tick I acquired) and saw over 30 species of birds including Hen Harrier, Golden Eagle and Redpoll; 9 species of butterfly and moth; 19 toads (Lorna was counting!); 2 adders (sadly only I saw them); a pregnant lizard; a few unidentified beetles and a tiny cricket. It was encouraging to see several families of Stonechat, Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit. My favourites were the Redpoll -a brilliant pink and the Grayling butterfly; Lorna's favourite was the toad and Mark's was the juvenile Buzzard we saw driving to our starting point. Thanks to Mark for the great photos.
Becky

Common Blue Damselflies mating - Mark Nelson

Juvenile Buzzard - Mark Nelson

Juvenile Buzzard - Mark Nelson

Grayling

Lorna with toad