Wildlife Dreams Come True in Scotland

Common or Harbour Seal with Cormorant

 

The Brunet Family reach remote Lake Coruisk

This was the summer when it made sense to take our family to Scotland rather than trying to understand and fulfill covid restrictions travelling abroad to see grandparents and extended family of the kids. So, like many other families we made our pilgrimage to Scotland and what a fine couple of weeks it was! Now, my experience of Scotland goes back to 2 holidays as a child. I discovered mist and midges with my Dad and younger brother. One time we took a caravan in Galloway, another time we spent a week in a rather small sailing boat with Dad's tent near Oban, Loch Creran and the Hebridean islands of that area. The wildlife stood out at the time: seals, black guillemots, hooded crows... but there were disappointments too: Golden Eagles that were always buzzards on Dad's inspection and a distinct lack of wildcats that had populated my young imagination until those holidays.

My husband's experience of Scotland was of 2 weddings we were invited to together (one in Oban, one in Gretna Green) and a hazy weekend at a Glasgow hotel to see a distillery via a Lake District in torrential rain. It was Samuel who decided he needed to do a proper tour of Scotland and that it would involve at least Ediburgh and Inverness. We began making our plans....some of the plans that unfolded will be in my next post...