Christine's walking & birds blog

Yesterday: A third trip up to the dam, with a partial thaw underway, brought only two birds - but they gave me a year tick, and, more interestingly, displayed some behaviour that I hadn't seen before. We spotted them as soon as we pulled into the still-crunchy lay-by - two birds flying and swooping round the control tower at great speed; I identified them as kestrels and commented that they must be two male birds, disputing territory. 

One landed on a shelf halfway up the tower while the second bird made several dives at it in a seemingly aggressive manner - after which they both flew off and made a large circle over the valley below, returning to perch now and then in the treetops of the plantation. My poor picture at least proves that I was wrong - one was a female.

Back home I consulted Birds of the Western Palearctic, which says "Courtship often occurs well before breeding season, both sexes circling and chasing....male repeatedly diving at female in mock attacks". I have to confess that, down south, I found the kestrel a rather boring bird (familiarity breeding, not contempt exactly, just lack of interest); but this dazzling display changed my mind. It was also nice to discover that, despite appearances, it was all about bonding, not battle.       

I didn't get to West Terrace until one o'clock, when I spotted a whale far out - and when I overheard someone saying that one or possibly two whales had been breaching in the loch this morning, I thought that was all I was going to see today. However, we were all in for a treat - and Greger drove up at just the right moment to see the action as well.

Puns are usually tiresome things, but I think I really am going to rue today's visit to Rhue; because, walking down the wet, muddy slope to the lighthouse, I lost concentration and slipped, falling on my left side with my right leg folded under me.  This is the leg with the arthritic knee and can't normally be folded like this - cue tremendous pain that made me cry out, and then more pain in my twisted right foot. Oh dear.

Stupidly, I carried on walking down to the lighthouse; it took me ages. I sat on the rocks and had a drink of water, and waited for a whale to make this all worth while. I'd been to Ardmair first and spotted a large black shape, so I knew there was one out there. I could see some dolphin activity, and finally caught a blow.

It doesn't look exactly as wide as it is long - but the whale that surfaced soon after was certainly a humpback.

Another mishap occurred when I bent down to feel my ankle - and dropped my camera on the rocks. It seems okay, however. I then started to make my slow, painful way back up the hill - and a woman coming down towards me suddenly slipped and fell. She got up quickly, fortunately not hurt - and in case she felt awkward I told her I'd just done the same thing. She very kindly asked if she could help me back up to the car park; I thanked her but said I would manage. It took ages, though; and the thought was in my mind: Will I be able to drive? As soon as I got into the car I knew that I could, and I drove home to assess the damage. I'd better rest it tomorrow, and pop over to the medical centre when it reopens on Monday. Blast!

After a visit to the medical centre to have my "bloods" done, I drove to Ardmair to give the car battery a bit of a charge - and spotted a feeding frenzy of seabirds far out. I headed back and turned along the road to Rhue, walking down a very muddy path to the lighthouse. Before I could get my camera out, a humpback whale broke the surface just out from the rocks. I next picked it up farther out towards the Coigach shore....

....and then managed to catch part of the tail as it came closer and dived just off Isle Martin.

In the last picture I can just see some auks in the foreground when I click it up - hadn't noticed them before. Today (Thursday) is the eighth day I've been watching the whale - and of course it was here several days before I started. It's certainly brightened up December!

It was nice and bright early on, and I was at West Terrace by ten; but I had to wait an hour before I picked up a blow far out and got onto the whale, seemingly heading up the loch.

I was freezing cold by then so I went home for lunch.

In the afternoon I returned and walked about to keep warm, until a heavy shower of rain sent me back to the shelter of my car; but when it had cleared away I spotted a whale and had several sightings between 1pm and 2pm.