Christine's walking & birds blog

With a warm sunny day forecast, I knew the beach car-park would be full; so I parked in the lay-by at the junction and walked the first part of the headland walk instead. In a channel in the machair, a shoal of tiny fish with pointed snouts and large eyes, and some with bright spots of colour, were probably lesser sand-eels (Ammodytes tobianus).



A family party of twite were flitting along the shore of the channel; one hadn't yet learnt to be wary of humans.


A juvenile dunlin was less tolerant, and flew across the channel with a hoarse call, scurrying off into the fading thrift. The beach was busy, with many people in bathing gear and a few hardy souls swimming and surf-boarding - but in wetsuits. Three women waded in wearing ordinary cozzies - and there was much shrieking as they got further and further out. One eventually started to swim but the other two continued to shriek until they too had a brief swim. They made me laugh - which was good, because the sun soon went in, a cool breeze got up, and many people began to leave the beach.

I enjoyed my walk, though - it was still a fine day, after all. On the way back I flushed a snipe, and a stonechat and a reed bunting were seen nearby in the bracken.


A juvenile cuckoo perched briefly on a rock further up the hill.


A peregrine came across the dunes and machair uttering a high-pitched complaint.


It was answered by a second bird and they later went flying high westwards together. Two ravens then   sauntered past. One carried on towards the sea, but the other one circled, called, did some tumbling in front of me, and then dropped down onto a crag as if to say "All this is mine!"


Actually, not far away was a dead sheep, which I had originally seen floating but which the falling tide had left marooned on the machair; so that's probably what they were after. A great black-backed gull was also cruising - but from the bloodied face of the unfortunate sheep, I thought it likely that the eyes at least had already gone.