The (mainland) far north

[Airehead]

Just spent a week on the Scottish north coast.
2 incidents of note -
I was leaning on a garden wall which reached head height while my wife was in the phone box in the crofting village where we stayed. A bird flew up from low on the other side of the wall and perched on the wall top 2 feet in front of my nose. It took a second to recognise it as a hen merlin, which looked at me and flew off up the road.

We were sitting by the river side in the Kyle of Tongue when we heard a stag roaring. We scanned the other side of the river, trying to spot it. Finally we saw it - a very tiny dot (confirmed with binoculars)on the crest of a hill which according to the map was 2 to 3 miles away. I was surprised that the sound could carry so far, all the more so because the wind was blowing across the line of sight.