Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Yesterday was pretty dreadful, though with more wind than rain. It was slightly less windy today but it's hardly stopped raining. The ten whooper swans were on one of the lochans near Loch Raa; I pulled up in the passing place and took a quick snap. (Greger phoned this evening from Sweden, where he saw forty whoopers on his brother's farm with a similar number of unidentified geese.)
The staining on the neck of the swans is apparently from their feeding habits in iron-rich water.
As I left the car to walk across the cliffs the rain came down harder until it was like sleet stinging my face; I was soaked before I reached the beach. The gulls lifted off lazily as I approached, but the glauc didn't move.
Also present: three long-tailed ducks, and an adult and a juvenile great northern diver. A peregrine was seen in the distance.
// posted by Christine @ 11:40 AM 
