Copulation – At Last

After more than forty years in waiting this year I finally filmed Kingfishers copulating. As shown in my blog of 29th June first he passed a fish to the female. He then rises into the air over a foot before landing on her back and balancing in final position for seven to eight seconds. To protect her eyes during copulation a membrane closes over in case there are mishaps. After the event the male launches himself into the air and leaves. He may then bathe. Click here

The sad event of the week  has been the putting to sleep of our thirteen year old golden retriever Robbie. He has been to Islay more than fifty times but never quite mastered the technique of finding a sitting Woodcock. However , one day on Jura whilst we were sat in the car looking for Otters he barked, something he rarely did, and upon checking we found he was watching a female Otter and two young that we had not seen!!