Monday, March 30, 2015
A drake goosander was loitering at the end of an island; perhaps a female was nearby already on eggs. (We weren't as close as it looks - this pic, as ever, is hugely cropped.) A black-throated diver and a female goldeneye were also on the loch.
Another loch held a second black-throated diver, a third loch held several herons and mallards and a pair of little grebes, and a fourth loch held two whooper swans.
The frogspawn had developed; the little round eggs were now elongated into tadpole-like shapes.
Two lapwings were on farmland where they certainly hadn't been in the winter. A bird of prey seen in the extreme distance might have been a goshawk, although the length of the tail argues for sparrowhawk. The tail-end seems rounded however, and the wings broad. Don't know.
Back in Ullapool in the rain, the glaucous was once more hanging around the harbour.
It was very cold and windy today with heavy, sometimes sleety showers; and there was a sprinkling of snow on the hill-tops. It was a day of lay-by birding; there were still no real migrants but there was some evidence of bird movements. Meanwhile, wheatears and sand martins have been reported from Moray/Nairn and the Stoer Peninsula (just north of us).
// posted by Christine @ 2:04 PM 
