Scotland June/July 2025

I show a small selection of the photos from this trip below, but for more of them go to my gallery of photos

For larger versions of each of the photos below, click on the captions.

In June/July 2025, we spent a week at Ullapool in the far north-west of Scotland. For the second week we moved to on the Isle of Harris, which was a new location for us. Afterwards we spent three nights in Aviemore with photo sessions at Aviemore Ospreys the main event. Dragonflies were also on the agenda with a brief stop at Loch Maree, enroute from Harris to Aviemore and an afternoon in the Aviemore area

Ullapool

For the first week of our latest Scottish trip we stayed in Ullapool which was reasonably close to Handa Island. I have visited this wonderful island several times in the past, going back to the late 1960s, although only once before with a camera, in 2013.  

Unusually, the weather was sunny and warm for our visit this time. The main draw for the photographer here is the Arctic Skuas that come very close when the marked track heads through one or other of their territories. 

It was good to encounter several pairs showing there has been some recovery from bird flu. 

I was carrying my 100-500 lens for this walk which had the advantage of being able to zoom out when the birds came in close, as one is doing here. Getting good shots was tricky though, especially given the harsh sun. I took several thousands on the island! 

A very close Arctic Skua! © Stephen Burch

Cruising past more distantly © Stephen Burch

Getting good settled shots was also difficult because of the harsh light. Also, although the birds sometimes perched on mounds, these tended to be into the sun and they frequently landed in the heather instead, as here.

Arctic Skua settled in the heather © Stephen Burch

There were also pairs of Great Skua around, but none we saw were harassing the visitors. I had only relatively distant views of them in flight, but came across of couple of very tame birds settled on the ground by the path.

Great Skua © Stephen Burch

Sticking to the path, it isn't normally easy to get close to Puffins. However this one was briefly right at the top of the cliffs, almost next to the path. It soon departed having been flushed by a passing Fulmar  that came very close.

Puffin on a cliff top ledge © Stephen Burch

Isle of Harris

For our second week, we took the ferry from Ullapool to Stornaway, and then drove down to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris. The bird photography here was less productive and the weather poorer. Although we saw plenty of both eagle species, none ever came close enough to be worth showing here. 

Early one morning, when the forecast was good, I took myself out for an early morning drive around to see what I could find from the car, or near to it.  This Red-breasted Merganser was remarkably obliging and swam right past me quite close in. 

A close Red-breasted Merganser © Stephen Burch

Shortly after locating the merganser (see above), I spotted this superb diver out on a loch. However it never came very close, and this is the best I could do with my "long-range" gear - the R7 with the 500mmf4 & x2 TC, which gives an effective focal length of 1600mm. 

 Distant Black-throated Diver © Stephen Burch

Aviemore

Last year, we had disappointing sessions at the now effectively discontinued Rothiemurchus Fisheries. Hence this year I tried the other nearby establishment - Aviemore Ospreys. Typically in the peak season (which July is definitely in), it was suggested that there should be up to about 10 dives a morning, compared with the single unsatisfactory dive last year, over two sessions! However when we were staying near Aviemore this year, it was very hot (near record breaking) with daytime max temperatures over 30 C! In these conditions, the Ospreys changed their hunting habits, and also for this first morning an aggressive, territorial male was driving off most other birds. 

There were only two dives, one very early when it was still almost dark and misty over the pond. The other dive was later, but the bird then flew away from the hide I was in, ruling out any worthwhile photos. For the first dive, the light was very poor requiring an ISO of 25,600! This, combined with low contrast due to the mist, meant the resulting image quality was very limited, even with the latest AI noise-reduction tools (DXO Pure Raw etc). Here is the only image from that first morning that had sufficient quality, in my view, to show here. 

Osprey with fish rising out of the early morning mist hanging over the pool © Stephen Burch

Fortunately I had booked two successive early morning sessions, which entailed starts at a very challenging 03:20! For the second morning, there was more wind and hence no mist, and the territorial bird from yesterday was not in evidence. Even so, there were only three dives that morning, with the first two again being very early in poor light. The last dive was much later, by which time the light was much stronger but pretty harsh, given the cloudless sky. Still with three dives, and with each lasting about 3 seconds, at 30 frames/sec, I ended up with a fair number of images to chose from.

Osprey holding the fish vertically early on the second morning © Stephen Burch

Here is image from the last dive taken in much better but quite harsh light. For several others see, my gallery.

Another Osprey dive - later in the morning © Stephen Burch

Dragonflies

1. Loch Maree/Kinlochewe

While travelling from Harris to Speyside, we were able to make a small diversion to revisit the site at NH022625, which had produced an obliging Northern Emerald last year in a brief brighter spell.

This time, however, the conditions were very different with hot, sunny weather, seemingly ideal for dragonflies. But surprisingly there was little activity with only a male Northern Emerald occasionally patrolling the clearing by the picnic table. It settled low down a few times but could never be located before it was flushed. It also settled high up in small tree but that didn't produce a worthwhile photo. A female also appeared very briefly and oviposited in the tiny pool about 30m NE of the table. 

Other species here included the odd Common Hawker and a Common Darter, neither of which posed for photos. Even here there was evidence of the drought, with many of the small boggy pools dried up.

This flight shot is an extreme crop which has come out OK, given its distance:

Distant Northern Emerald in flight  © Stephen Burch

2. Lochan Mor

We had two hot, sunny days in the Aviemore area. On the first of these days we passed Lochan Mor in an extended walk which also reached Loch-an-Eileen, an old favourite place of mine, dating back to the mid 1960s!

Lochan Mor, which I had never visited before, was evidently shallow with plenty of emergent vegetation, and had a reasonable number and variety of odonata, including Golden-ringed Dragonfly and Common Hawker. But as it was so hot, everything was very active and seldom settling.

Golden Ringed Dragonfly settled briefly in a shady spot. © Stephen Burch

3. Tulloch Moor

With no sign of any White-faced Darters at the "fire pool" near Loch Garten, we tried this site on Tulloch Moor where I had success with finding immatures way back in June 2010.

It was quite late in the season for this species, and the problem with this site (unnamed lochan at NH960163) is its boggy edges which prevent a close approach to the emergent vegetation around the fringe of the water. However we eventually found a spot where we weren't too far from the water and started to see White-faced Darters in amongst the more numerous Four-spotted Chasers and Black Darters. 

Photography was difficult because of all the vegetation, distance and the light direction. My shots are all big crops and the best I could do in the circumstances. This photo shows the white face clearly. 

White-faced Darter © Stephen Burch

White-faced Darter © Stephen Burch

For additional bird photos go to my photo gallery for this trip       

For all my 2025 dragonfly photos go to my 2025 dragonfly gallery