Sunday, October 05, 2014
I drove out to Achnahaird pretty early - and there was STILL a blooming dog-walker already out on the beach when I arrived.
The strong winds had blown the sand into lots of long, streamlined mounds; in one of them a dead bird was embedded. It looks like a juvenile shag, but I'm not sure. It can't have been predated, otherwise it would have been eaten, I suppose.
While I stood on the beach, two flocks of whooper swans flew in and landed on the Allt Loch Raa at the head of the bay. At least some of these are probably new ones, since yesterday's included some juveniles. I counted forty birds.
A couple getting ready to walk told me that they lived in Cambridgeshire and sometimes went to see whooper swans at Welney. They were off to do the headland, and I felt sorry for them; we had the same strong winds yesterday, but at least we had sun and blue skies as well.
At Badentarbat beach I drove onto the grass in the drizzle and snapped a foraging curlew from the car.
Back at Achnahaird I watched a great northern diver and this wintry looking razorbill diving far off-shore.
Out on the machair were at least thirty golden plover. Also seen: gannets (adult and juvenile), twites, buzzards, ravens, great skuas, two mergansers, four snipe, lots of stonechats, and a small flock of barnacle geese flying south.
// posted by Christine @ 12:50 PM 
