Alice is off today, recovering from her wasp incident, (don't worry, she's fine), so you've got me. I've just checked the data and Mallachie is still in the same area of Portugal near the border with Spain. It will be interesting to see how long she stays there now, given her steady progress up to the point of arriving there. Maybe it's her turn to bide a while in one place and replenish her resources.
It is an interesting comparison between their respective strategies. Rothes left Loch Garten very earlier remember, and was off like a bolting rabbit and then appeared to have hit a wall near Bordeaux, where she spent several weeks before eventually moving on. Did she leave too early, regret it and then run out of puff? Mallachie on the other hand, left on time, well, when we expected her to, made steady progress reaching further south than Rothes but has now come to a stand-still herself. Hares & tortoises spring to mind.
Rothes though presses on further. Her most up to date fix at 10pm last night (30th) gave her position as just south of Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, near the Atlantic coast. Having come inland from a spell out at sea off Morocco (phew!), at 11am on 29th September was close to the border between Western Sahara and Mauritania. At noon she was near a town called Zouerate where she seem to spend a few hours before continuing on her way due south west. At 4pm she crossed the very bottom right hand corner of Western Sahara near a town called Choum before proceeding back into Mauritania and finding a roosting spot. The next day, (30th) she was on the move by 10am, presumably once the heat of the desert day was up, to give her lift, and she seem to be following the N1 road towards Akjoujt. By 5pm she was east of the capital and went to roost at about 7pm just south of Nouakchott, within sight of the sea, handy for fishing. It's always good and reassurring to see them somewhere close to water. My guess is that Rothes will drop further down south now and pitch up at Djoudj National Park on the border with Senegal, that I mentioned last year for Nethy. We shall see, more tomorrow.
Meantime here on the Rez, it's a beautiful time of year. As the temperatures begin to drop, the autumn colours are beginning to show. There was even a fresh dusting of snow on the high Cairngorms this morning. It's a great time to visit, if you are in reach. The Osprey Centre and facilities are closed, but the wider reserve area is open at all times. In fact, it's a great time to visit Strathspey in general, there's just so much autumn going on right now.
Yesterday, I went out in the late afternoon sunshine to try and see hen harriers going to roost. Once in position, I sat back in the heather to wait. Eighteen whooper swans passed overhead, fresh from Iceland - that's our north Atlantic neighbours you understand, not the supermarket - flying against the darkening leaden sky, yet somehow spot-lit by the last rays of evening sunshine, they looked magnificent. They were heading to Loch Garten to roost I think. Skeins of pink-footed geese (also from Iceland) passed overhead too, but way, way up high, picked up on call, determindly heading further south. But flocks of greylags were to-ing and fro-ing, back and forth all over the Strath, as the dusk descended, undecided whether to roost on Lochs Garten, Mallachie or Pityoulish. Add to all that, the distant horny bellowing of red deer stags resounding in the hills behind me, and the sense of autumn was complete. No harriers though, bah. Still, cannot have everything.
More anon.
Thanks for all the info Richard.
Great news about Rothes and Mallachie. LG Ospreys what can you say.
Strathspey is just the most beautiful place in autumn and spring. It's hard for us to have to put up with you after the sterling job Alice has been doing but hey ho I am not complaining. Take care.
Thanks Richard for the comprehensive update. I am happy that Rothes is heading for Senegal and that Mallachie is fine where she is in Portugal. Had to laugh at the Whooper Swans from Iceland joke.
FAB
Thanks, Richard, ... great to hear Rothes is doing so well, and Mallachie is obviously enjoying where she is for now. You paint a lovely word picture of the area ... including Iceland swans!!
Good news again about the girls. LG sounds fantastic just now Richard. Snow, already , on the mountain tops , brilliant. Thanks for all info
It has been really cold today - Autumn is definitely here. Wish I could migrate to Senegal with the birdies!
Must have great seeing the Whoopers going overhead. Havent seen any geese myself yet but it cant be long now.................
lol Tish. send you a note soon
Thanks Richard. Great to know all is well and Mallachie must be in a very nice spot.
So glad Rothes is doing great as well:)
What a lovely part of the world you are in.
Great news about the girls Richard...thank you. Your blog painted a beautiful picture, I can visualise it all... We have had a cooler day today down here but at least the sun is still shining, the Robins are back in the garden and the Goldfinches have appeared on the Niger feeder, and it doesn't matter how many times you clear the leaves they come back in minutes. Autumn is here...and I love it!! The smells and colours are wonderful! Thanks for keeping us in touch!
Oh Richard - you are sitting in the heather while the rest of us are in Tescos or whatever--- !! You lucky so and so !!
Many thanks for the update--
What a wonderful update Richard oh how I wish I was at LG or at least close enough to visit this time of year sounds lovely , Mmmmmmm quite a picture you lying in the heather !!! So pleased Rothes is doing so well but not sure I want her around Nethys area , stay safe Rothes and Mallachie will go whereever when she is ready . thanks Richard again for a wonderful picture .
Thanks Richard lets hope she settles somewhere soon so we only have Mallachie to worrie about whilst she completes her journey. One flying over the sea at a time is enough to worry about.
On reading your blog, one thought came to mind, it took be ages to pronounce Rothes correctly (the scottish way) imagine if you had named her the Loch beginning with P you mentioned. Even harder to say. I will say that I do prefer the 2 names of the 2 local Lochs you chose as it sums up your immediate area.
Now I am having trouble pronouncing one of Roy Dennis's I am watching called R.......... after the fish farm and estate. Can you split it up and remind me how to say it please?
You may have read on one of my recent comments about how little reading I do RICHARD and the fact that after buying Roy's book at your shop in July have recently finished it and have highly recommended it to all, will you write a book about Loch Garten one day?
JILLIAN
Thanks for the update Richard.
Nouakchott! What fantastic progress - she's nearly there.
I was checking out the area where Red 8T has pitched up in southern Senegal and it looks a great place for migrating birds to chill out for the winter, which is why so many end up there I suppose. It makes you realise why these birds make such an effort to reach it.
I'm confident that, wherever Rothes ends up, she will find a great place to spend the next 18 months.
Hang on RICHARD, just wrote my blog and checked the google map and it seems when you wern't looking Richard Mallachie flew very fast south almost catching her sister up in Africa then turned round and flew back to spain eh
jillian = Rothy murk iss. Think thats the one you mean
Thank you Richard. Great to hear fresh news of the girls.
It is a wonderful area at any time of the year but Autumn is just beautiful!