Christine's walking & birds blog

We took advantage of a dry afternoon yesterday and went hunting crested tits. We didn't find any, but two very small creatures illustrated both the beauty of the natural world - and its opposite. I noticed what I thought was a fly on Greger's forehead, just above the hairline. When I tried to brush it off, it seemed to flatten itself weirdly, clamping down on his skin so that I couldn't shift it. Then it moved again and I was able to grab it with a tissue.


Greger was horrified when he saw the picture on the computer! The insect was larger than a tick (about the size of a small ladybird), and research on the internet reveals that it was a deer ked or deer fly (Lipoptena cervi); it flies onto a deer and immediately sheds its wings before burrowing into the coat and settling down permanently on the host, whose blood it sucks. They will bite humans, however, so Greger was fortunate in that he wasn't bitten; but the fact that only stumps of the wings remain on this one is rather troubling. Can they mistake their host?!

The Scotch argus was looking a bit faded but was an altogether more acceptable form of wildlife.

  
As was the merlin that flew up the hillside and disappeared before I could do anything sensible.

On Friday morning, a high tide at Achnahaird brought seven black-tailed godwits, two ruff, and a knot - along with quite a few dunlin and some sanderling. A sparrowhawk was again seen.