Wednesday, December 17, 2014
This glaucous gull was at Ardmair again today. It's a 1st winter bird, shown by the relatively dark plumage (although it can look remarkably different in different lights). The snowy appearance of the original glaucous shows that gull is well on the way to adult plumage, and is probably therefore a 2nd winter bird. I haven't seen it for over a week.
(Glaucous gull info from Birds of the Western Palearctic.)
Yesterday there were two turnstones on the beach with ringed plovers, oystercatchers, and rock pipits, and two snow buntings were still on the camp-site. But today the cold wind was too much for me, so after watching and snapping the 1st winter glaucous for a while, I gave up and went home.
Monday, December 15, 2014
The weather over the past week has kept us mostly indoors, so this morning I went out to enjoy a few hours of rare sunshine. At Ardmair I was counting ringed plovers (13) and looking in vain for a turnstone that we glimpsed here yesterday in the hail, when an unfamiliar call drew my attention to two small birds (which I'd probably disturbed) flying around high above. They were snow buntings, and they soon came back down to forage on the camp-site.
A glaucous gull was patrolling the beach with herring and great black-backed gulls. This was darker than the glauc, lacking that bird's snowy appearance, so obviously a different individual. I haven't seen the original one for a few days.
An otter ran up the beach and across the camp-site, and I became aware of how cold it actually was. Home to lunch and an afternoon of work - during which the sky darkened and the rain returned.
Saturday, December 06, 2014
Rotten weather today, forecast to continue tomorrow. The glaucous gull was again around the harbour.
A little grebe was fishing close in to shore.
Thursday, December 04, 2014
Ullapool
The glistening glaucous gull was drifting about over Shore Street with herring gulls this morning, above the harbour and among the chimney pots.
I could have stayed there all day watching this gull but work called me home.
Wednesday, December 03, 2014
We're putting in full days on our translation job now as we realise we might otherwise not get it finished by the end of March. I'm grateful we have the work as it keeps my mind occupied and I'm tired by the evening from all the typing. But today Greger had to take his car to Inverness to get the wheel alignment done, so I went with him. It was a bright, sunny day.
The photo is looking downstream along the River Ness towards the cloud-shrouded Ben Wyvis. This seems odd as the mountain is inland, but the river flows into the Beauly Firth, which is itself the inland extension of the mighty Moray Firth. The tide is out, exposing the "gull spit" on the west bank.
Three dippers were along the same bank this time, two of them being very vocal and chasing one another.
A pair of mergansers dived constantly in the fast-flowing water, and I could only get a passable shot of the male.
On the drive home, two whooper swans were seen on the far side of Loch Glascarnoch.
