Our second day on Harris was planned well in advance around a visit to the North Harris Eagle Observatory. I have seen a golden eagle once before, up on the north coast of Scotland, but this particular site has a resident pair and sightings are frequent, so with fingers firmly crossed, off we set.
On the way, I spotted something worthy of a longer view – the biggest salmon farm I’ve yet seen
I couldn’t fit them all in one photo, but there were 12 rings in all, with someone busily attending to them on a little boat.
A bit further up the coast, along a single track road, we pulled over into the car park for the eagle observatory. At that time, we were the only car there. It’s a 3 and a quarter mile walk up to the observatory, on a fairly flat, prepared track, so off we set, binoculars in hand.
Ideal eagle territory
And here we are!
That’s Brian searching the sky for our elusive friends
Realising this might not be a quick experience, we settled down to wait. Inside the hide is lots of information on what one might see, but aside from being a bit chilly, it was a glorious day, so we sat outside on benches, breathed in the fabulously clean air, an soaked up the solitude and quiet.
A family with three small boys appeared a little later, the adults hung with various binoculars and cameras, but after about ten minutes the children became restless, and scanning the skies revealed nothing, so the poor adults gave way to the pressure of bored children and took their brood back down the track.
Hearing a stag roar not too far away got me studying the crag on the right of this picture, and a magnificent red stag with a huge set of antlers revealed himself standing near to the top. For a while he posed, roaring occasionally, as October is the start of the rutting season and he was obviously keen to attract the small herd of does that appeared a while later. Unfortunately I don’t possess a telephoto lens, so no pictures as they were too far away, but it was simply lovely just watching and listening to this wonderful display.
Next, a Japanese couple appeared, armed with cameras but not binoculars. They stayed for about 5 minutes then ambled away, too much left on their agenda for the day to linger for long.
Eventually another English couple arrived. We’d been there for about 30 minutes by then, not too long really, when one of the newcomers pointed to a ridge over on the left. Binoculars raised, we scanned the clouds. Far above, so far as to be little more than dots to the naked eye, a bird had launched off the crag.
At first I doubted we were seeing an eagle. This bird was flapping heavily, almost clumsily. It was joined by a second, and together they flapped their way slowly upward. Then bingo! They caught a thermal, spread their wings wide and soared.
Yes! They were golden eagles!
This pic is courtesy of visitouterhebrides.co.uk, as they were way too far away for us to photograph, but the experience was truly magical. We tracked them for about 20 minutes until they vanished behind cloud and we could finally lower our aching arms.
What an experience!
After walking back to the car, we continued along the dead end road, eager to see what else this beautiful island had to offer.
We passed an inhabited castle but decided to take photos on the return journey. The road terminates at a tiny village called Hushinish, with another glorious beach.
This beach boasted an unmanned visitor centre, with changing rooms for those hardy souls keen to swim in the pristine ocean – and we found some!
We expressed our admiration for their hardiness, and were told with much laughter it was a family dare. Rather them than me!
Turning around, we set off back towards civilisation, such as it is on Harris. Along the road, these were a few photo-worthy sights that caught my eye: a herd of highland cows on the hillside…
A couple of beautiful waterfalls…
and let’s not forget the sheep…
before returning to the castle we passed earlier – the road passes right through this archway
View through the archway
They’ve turned one of their old stables into a little shop selling local produce. It was a help-yourself-and-leave-money-in-the-honesty-box, overlooked by an anachronistic CCTV camera!
Looking back
And turning the other way from where I was standing to take this pic, this glorious sight…
I wonder who owns this peat bog? Surely too small for the castle…
And what about the sheep? They do have owners, but it must be hellish trying to gather them all up at shearing time
Were ewe waiting for the bus?
deborahjay 
Beautiful. I love those sheep sitting in the road. Reminds me of home.
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They were EVERYWHERE! Whereabouts is home?
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Norh Wales. More sheep than humans.
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😀 Definitely like home then – on Harris sheep outnumber people by a large percentage.
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Gorgeous pictures…and wonderful that you saw the eagles!
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It was a magical day 😀
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It looks it too!
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[…] Reblogged from Deborah Jay: […]
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What a glorious land. Because of the cold, I might have to wait for the hologram (or virtual reality–that’ll do to)
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VR would be great, but you really have to experience it in the flesh to get the full effect.
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Wonderful post. Great photos and lucky you seeing the golden eagles. I saw one on Arran a couple of years ago above the whisky distillery. The DH and son had already reached the entrance when I spotted the eagle and had to decide whether to risk chasing after them to tell them and miss the eagle or just stand and admire the sight myself.
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You just have to look, don’t you? The first one we saw up on the north coast, was sitting on a boulder on the sea shore. We stopped the car pronto, not believing our luck. It gave us the most amazing dirty look for disturbing it and flapped off, displaying how damned big that wing span is!
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lovely; we toured the outer Hebrides the summer before last, though no eagles we were stunned by the wild flowers in the machair and the peacefulness of it all (not sure I can take unremitting daylight though!) It was great to find a degree of optimism about the populace with broadband allowing more people to stay and work from home. Not forgetting the weaving! Glad you enjoyed your visit
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It’s one of those places that changes a lot with the seasons, but there’s always something to see 😀 Isn’t broadband a wonderful things? Especially on such remote islands. Provided it works!!!
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Yes that caveat is very true!
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Wildly beautiful, such a climate. Love the ewe in the bus shelter – smart girl!
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My favourite image from the holiday, that one, for the sheer amusement of seeing a sheep waiting for the bus 😀
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What amazing photographs, Scotland is so beautiful.
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I’m never going to run out of things to photograph, that’s for sure.
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Deb, glad I made it back to read your beautiful post and photos. And loved the calming force of the videos. You certainly are a much better videographer than I am. Lol, you’ll see in some of my upcoming vacation posts. Plus, I can’t help but flap my lips in some of mine LOL. But what I really loved in a few photos was the glimpse of a rainbow. Spectacular! ❤
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Lol, I’m learning with those videos not to move so fast as I used to – they were whoops! It’s over! Slower is definitely better, and believe me, there are plenty I have to discard, usually to remove Brian’s commentary 😀
And I do love to capture a rainbow in my pics when I can – one of my specialities.
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Well you dun better than me, lol. I have a bad habit of panning too fast too with the video LOL 🙂
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😀
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Beautiful pictures. Now I want to book my next Scottish trip.
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Always more to see in Scotland 😀
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Scotland is beautiful. I would live in Edinburgh if it wasn’t so cold. 😀
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Lol, my house is above Inverness – we do cold alright! Just means being prepared with lots of layers 😀
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Wow! Gorgeous. Thanks for the tour. Breathtaking!! I loved the sheep. I was stationed in the U.K. at RAF Lakenheath in East Anglia. I loved it. England imprinted on me. Scotland is somewhere I always I wanted to visit. ❤
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Scotland is soooo much prettier than East Anglia! You must get there – truly inspirational landscapes, wildlife and people 😀
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Thanks, Deborah. I would love it! ❤
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Smart sheep in the bus stop! Love the photos.
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I love that sheep! I’m sure it posed especially for the photo 😉
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[…] Last year’s trip, to the Outer Hebrides, we walked miles to the Harris Eagle Hide, and after a long wait, saw two of these magnificent birds as tiny dots at great height, barely visible to the naked eye, though easily distinguishable by binocular. […]
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