Christine's walking & birds blog

The weather is great for walking the hills at the moment (although rather windy today) but we're not fit enough to tackle one. Today we drove down to Poolewe, where two bar-tailed godwits were feeding on the beach - when they weren't being chased by a curlew.


This is looking over the beach from Inverewe's walled garden to Beinn Airigh Charr.


As we approached the rocks below the high viewpoint we heard a call that was almost like a high-pitched yell. Out on the water of the small bay were three Slavonian grebes; but we didn't hear the call again, so I'm not sure it was them.


There was nothing today on the sports field at Aultbea, but eight black-throated divers were on the sea, close in to the shore. Several, if not all, were adult birds in various stages of losing their breeding plumage.


As we turned away, Greger pointed out a wader flying speedily above the loch; it was a snipe. A bit further on, a quick scan of the glistening sands at Little Gruinard revealed five or six more bar-tailed godwits; but the beach was fairly busy, so I didn't go down. The holiday season this year has extended well into the autumn.