Beaver!

The timings were tense. 
What’s the right time to leave the cabin? What time does it get light? What time do beavers go to bed? How long will it be before we’re too cold to stay watching? Who’s having breakfast before they go (that’ll be me and Little Dog)? Work back, what time are we getting up? 


The route planning was tense. 
Which side of the loch should we walk on - the side with the lodge or the side where we saw the most beaver nibbles? Which would avoid scaring them most? Which would give maximum visibility should one appear?

This morning, we executed last night’s plan with only one small waver of additional tension. 

Little Dog walked in in her jumper and added an extra coat when we arrived at the hide. There was just enough light to walk by without torches and only Little Dog was allowed to walk on the noisy gravel with her light footsteps. We stuck to the frosty grass verges.

We sat and watched. And waited. And continued to wait. The light started to increase and we thought we might have missed beaver bedtime. I suggested we go. Rich said, five more minutes.

And do you know what happened in those five minutes? Of course you do…

The last, or maybe only, beaver swam silently across the loch in front of us from right to left, with its wake catching the very first of the daylight. It took a little leap and ducked under the water at its lodge, to bed.

And that was after the excitement of seeing a barn owl above the car on the drive there in the dark. And before we had a lovely walk from Crinan along the canal. As well as a wildlife tour through the marshes. And we couldn’t resist a twilight visit to see if the beaver was getting up.

Nothing.

But that makes a single sighting all the more treasured.


(Larger is vaguely sharper! - I was pushing the limits of both me and my camera with a ridiculously low shutter speed, manual focus (in the dark) and forgetting to change the max Auto ISO higher.  I'm actually pretty pleased with what I've managed to get out of it!)