Scotland Day 2: I am a rock, I am an island
Today we leave Nethy Bridge for a couple of days and take the day traveling to the Isle of Skye. Our guides had a number of key sites for us to visit and at the top our target species list would be golden eagle and ptarmigan. We took a break at Achnasheen, and to be precise, the railway station. We were there for about 30 minutes but in that time we saw wheatear, sand martin, siskin, red deer, a singing redwing and more black grouse on a neighbouring hillside. Achnasheen Station Redwing This was a quality coffee/comfort stop as the birding was phenomenal at this station. (No trains mind.) We carried on the scenic route towards Applecross and stopped briefly at Loch Shieldaig and spied a great northern diver and a few shag, albeit distantly. Meadow Pipit We carried along the Bealach na Bà on the Applecross peninsula eventually parking at the base of Sgurr a' Chaorachain. From here we would start looking for 'Rock' Ptarmigan or just plain old Ptarmigan I suppose, but...