Christine's walking & birds blog

It begins and ends on the Dirrie More

We had pulled in for a scan of Loch Droma on the bleak, high moorland pass between Garve and the Braemore Junction. Nothing was seen on the water apart from a common sandpiper; then a surprise osprey came cruising. It hovered over the loch with dangling feet and then crossed the road to Loch Glascarnoch, where it landed on the top of a conifer before being chased off by crows.

The otter was in the corner of Loch Kanaird where the Slavonian grebes were seen in early May. It was about a quarter to ten in the evening, and we watched it swim and run along the shore until the light went.  Finally it dived, leaving a few bubbles and a "ring of bright water".     

South of Ullapool, we followed the long stalkers' path up Gleann na Sguaib, seeing siskins, redpolls, Golden-ringed Dragonflies and a spotted flycatcher in the forest. High up around the 600m contour a juvenile dipper foraged as we had a coffee-break by a small pool.

A watchful adult was nearby.

On this higher pool were more dippers (one was singing), common sandpipers and meadow pipits.  Loch Broom is just visible far below, and beyond is the sea.

Greger was again much taken by outcrops of compressed rock, and took this with his mobile.

It was nice to get up to this curious bealach again with its lochan and its dry stone dyke. The snow patches are on the shoulders of Beinn Dearg ("byn dyerak", The Munros, Cameron McNeish) which we climbed fourteen years ago. Today we'd been hoping to go straight over the pass to bag Cona Mheall ("cona vale").

With great reluctance we decided we were not fit enough. Meanwhile the impressive Coire Ghranda was worth a long look. Loch Glascarnoch and the Dirrie More are visible in the distance, and our intended hill is to the left.   

On our coastal drive later in the week I was surprised to see two black-throated divers close to the shore near the Aultbea Hotel. Were they real?! Shame they had the sun behind them. 

Pulling into the lay-by at First Coast we startled half a dozen red deer feeding on a shelf between the road and the sea. They didn't seem overly bothered when Greger got out of the car and took this picture. 

We got back into the car and the deer came back up. The grass must be sweet there.

They eventually crossed the road and disappeared up rising ground opposite; nope, one more to come! Gruinard Bay and Beinn Ghobhlach ("ben golach") are in the background.

At the head of Little Loch Broom I was watching curlews and dunlins when an odd gruff bark made me turn to see, not a small angry dog, but a red-breasted merganser.

Another golden evening at the lodge mid-week, and two vocal cuckoos were hunting from fence posts, again at about a quarter to ten. I watched and listened as the setting sun lit up the hillside; I'm glad I did because after this we neither saw nor heard a cuckoo again.

One whooper swan was on a reedy loch, and a greenshank was calling with alarm as I took the photo (from the road). The wader flew from the waterside to a high knoll, beyond which a man accompanied by two dogs was wandering round another loch, trying his luck with a fishing-rod. 

An idyllic afternoon was spent at Achnahaird Bay. We picnicked above a rocky cove in the sun and saw gannets, razorbills, ravens and great skuas. A pair of black-throated divers seemed to be doing some pair-bonding and this adult red-throated diver was in the company of a juvenile.

A small flock of kittiwakes brought great delight as I haven't had many sightings of this neat gull. They fished in a circle for some time near the sandy beach, now and then flying closer in past the rocks.

Greger chose the other half of Quinag ("koonyag") for our second hill-walk. As we clambered out of the car I spotted a large raptor planing across the eastern flank of Sail Gharbh. It was almost certainly an eagle but in no time at all it had vanished from sight. These immense landscapes where birds can be spotted and lost in seconds are as frustrating as they are exhilarating.

I had possibly a second glimpse of an eagle later on, as we peered down a stone-chute on the western side of the hill. A large golden bird cruised into the mountainside far below us and was never seen again. I had to be content with wheatears, which were everywhere.

We had remembered this side of Quinag as being just big rounded summits and broad ridges; we'd forgotten this nice little bit of rock-scrambling on the side of one of the unnamed tops.

The popularity of the mountain is illustrated by quite severe erosion in several places; this traverse has been "stepped". Beyond Greger is the magical bealach where we encountered the ptarmigan(s) in early May.  Alas, none today.

All too soon it was time to go home. We stopped at Loch Droma for a coffee (no osprey this time!) and when we set off again were amazed at the sudden stream of traffic we had to join. We'd never seen a queue of vehicles snaking its way across the Dirrie More like this before.