Christine's walking & birds blog

Snow fell yesterday, settling at first but soon disappearing except on higher ground; here it defines some of the buttresses and gullies of Ben Mor Coigach, dramatic backdrop to the now-open Ardmair campsite.


A rock pipit foraging in the wrack still showed the olive tones of winter plumage. That's not surprising, as it's still very much winter.


An Iceland gull in the harbour had a large feathery lump like a ball of cotton wool hanging down as it flew in. I couldn't see any blood, but it seemed to affect its left foot.


Back at home there was the usual feeding frenzy on the front lawn. Three glossy carrion crows were a new visitor; and I got one shot of a paler redpoll.


The redpoll at the bottom of the pic is clearly "colder" in colour than the lesser redpoll at the top. But is it cold enough, I wonder. It has white trousers, but I'm not sure if that's significant. The dark ear coverts talked of on one site I've looked at don't seem evident; and as for size, I haven't managed to get a shot of - or even see - the two birds close together to compare them. This bird, which is a different one again, was in the rowan tree.


All very interesting. Meanwhile, I think I'll stick to calling them just "redpolls" for the time being.