Christine's walking & birds blog

It looks idyllic at Badentarbat, and it was certainly sunny and even warm - when you could get out of the south-east wind.


At Achnahaird, only six black-tailed godwits and one bar-tailed remained of yesterday's flock. I had to crouch behind a sand-dune and peer through the marram grass to avoid disturbing them.


Driving away from the high lay-by, I stopped on the road to take a pic of Achnahaird. The saltmarsh is bordered by dunes in the middle distance (oddly on one side of the beach, not at the back), and by the channel of the river in the foreground. It's quite a big area for birds to lose themselves. It's difficult to scope the whole thing from one vantage point; and if you go walking on the beach and the machair, you run the risk of flushing everything. I love this place - but it's a fifty-mile round trip from home and the petrol is eating into my pension, so once the migration season's over I'll have to ration my visits.


As if it's not enough that the road in is single-track, the sheep are determined to make things even more awkward.


They don't bat an eyelid as cars pass just centimetres away, but if you stop and get out they scramble to their feet and run off bleating.