Thursday, October 05, 2017


No tern could be seen at Ardmair this morning; but the "allotment" area of the sheep fields was busy with one each of robin, chaffinch, twite, and meadow pipit; several dunnocks; and three stonechats.

From the junction lay-by at Achnahaird I had just lowered my bins after identifying four dunlin on the sand below when a buzzard hurled itself at them; the dunlin scattered - and the buzzard was left musing on what might have been before flying off to try its luck elsewhere.


A sturdy-looking wheatear was running on the grass on the cliff-tops.


I followed it a little way to make sure it was a northern wheatear; it was, although possibly a Greenlander. Doesn't matter - it takes the place of the Ben Wyvis bird as possibly my last of the year and in any case, the sight of a wheatear always cheers me up.


And I needed cheering up, what with the insane wind, the sudden short flurries of rain, and the lack of birds. Only other birds of note: a group of seven or eight golden plover that lifted off calling from the fields near the houses (and then went back down again where I couldn't see 'em!), a flock of at least thirty-five twite, and two little grebes in Old Dornie harbour.

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