Today was the last full day we have on Arran for this trip, so we spent the day walking from Brodick to the Castle and back, exploring the gardens and seashore along the way. It didn’t rain on us but was a little grey on occasion. We spent a good amount of time looking for Red Squirrels in the castles hide but apart from a very quick view of one in the tree tops I didn’t manage any photos. Along the coast there were Ringed Plovers, Wagtails, nesting Mute Swans and Oyster catchers and Buzzards flying high.
Once we were back in Kingscross, I thought I would try one last evening walk along the coast to see if the Otter was out, and there he was.
He came to the surface and made two dives, on the third he caught a fish and was bringing it to the shore to eat when a fishing boat with an outboard motor flew past, spooking him and sending him out towards the open sea. A great if quick time spent with this large dog Otter, and I walked back with a smile on my face. The smile quickly disappeared when I saw something move in the air and land on the rocks of the bay, about ten feet from where the Otter had just been hunting, it was a helium ballon with a very long nylon ribbon attached, the ribbon caught on the rock and the ballon fell into the sea. It was in water too deep for me to reach, but the ballon and the ribbon are a death sentence for any wildlife that gets caught up in it. If these can’t be banned then people should be educated not to buy them, they are plastic based, will never biodegrade and are lethal to all wildlife that has the misfortune to find them.
With that rant over – what a fantastic two weeks we’ve had on Bute and Arran, great weather, wonderful food, great company and superb wildlife. Im already planning our next trip to Arran.
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