Christine's walking & birds blog

Despite a morning temperature of 0 to -1˚C much of the snow had melted away from the hills as we drove north; but we resisted the temptation to go walking across the moorland here and carried on to Loch Craggie. Big mistake.....


....because we found the Forestry Commission tracks there to be too slippery to walk on safely (although some slip-on spikes rather like pretend-crampons on my boots did help a bit); and after waiting in vain for an eagle to turn up (all we saw there was a buzzard and a great spotted woodpecker) we drove instead to Loch Assynt, where there was grass to walk on and a singing dipper to admire. That was a sweet sound in the deadening cold of a winter's day!


Yesterday we were over east, but there were no dolphins to be seen at Chanonry Point.  A small group of ringed plovers with one dunlin flew up and down, landing and being chased off by the many walkers who'd come out on this bright but bitingly cold day.


Across the Black Isle at Udale Bay, waders and ducks were massing on the grassy spits as the tide rose. A peregrine sitting on the fence some distance away gave great views through the 'scope.


Shame the picture doesn't reflect that. I said this could be the year I post only good photos - but don't hold your breath. I'm not known for sticking to New Year's resolutions.