Christine's walking & birds blog

The immature golden eagle could only just be seen with the naked eye as it soared above a distant ridge.


Even with bins I couldn't see what a couple of the pictures show - that the bird had a full crop.


No worries then about the eagle finding food in this cold spell. A smallish falcon seen briefly before it disappeared behind a plantation (it must have flown over my head!) was probably a merlin; a male stonechat went up from the wet moorland and hovered, checking me out; and three whooper swans were on Loch Droma. Not a bad bunch for a late afternoon walk.

It was gaspingly cold when I put my head out of the door this morning, and the lawn was white with frost. My car had to be cleared of thick ice before I could set off - but at least the road had been gritted.

Stonechats were seen in several places throughout the Coigach area, and this one was snapped from the car.


A dozen or so twite were flighty around the viewpoint near Altandhu.


Two ravens took no notice when I stopped, got out of the car, and leaned on a gate to take a picture.


 Yesterday, we drove north and took some pictures of autumn moorlands and winter snow.


But the good weather didn't last, and we drove home in rain and sleet; whereas today was bright and sunny until the sun went down - and now at eight o'clock it's a "starry, starry night".

A female crossbill was seen from the car and snapped from a handy passing-place.



The clear blue sky didn't last long; I'd driven through one shower, and soon another blew in from the north; there would be no other bird sightings on my drive today. But at home, a flurry of activity in a puddle at the top of the neighbours' drive proved to be redwings, starlings, and a fieldfare - all sharing a small, leaf-filled bath on the pavement.


Hanging out washing a couple of days ago (a pointless activity in the present weather followed several minutes later by bringing the washing back in - not unaccompanied by much swearing) I heard panicky calls and watched at least a hundred winter thrushes flood over the garden, pursued by a sparrowhawk.

The rowan trees are being stripped bare. If waxwings arrive, I doubt they'll find anything to eat. My first snow of the winter was seen at Ardmair, with a fine dusting on Ben Mor Coigach.

Driving south into Ullapool in the dark this evening, we saw a barn owl fly across the road just after the turn-off to Rhue. Later, Greger said he would look on the dashcam tomorrow to see if it had picked up the owl - before we both remembered that we'd been in my car, and I don't have a dashcam.  :o(

A small green "stone" I picked up on a beach turned out to be a piece of glass.


The frosted appearance and the presence of C-shaped marks suggest this is genuine sea glass. The marks are best seen when held up to the light.


Similar items can be produced artificially, but not the frosted look or the marks - which are apparently a result of a chemical reaction between the pH of the ocean and the ingredients of glass.

Sea glass comes from bottles and jars thrown whole or smashed into the sea long ago, and worn smooth by being tumbled in waves and sand; people collect it, and some make it into jewellery. Not bad for pieces of rubbish.

A little egret flew up the Allt Loch Raa at Achnahaird around 12.30 on this bright, sunny, but fairly cold day.


Twenty golden plover and ten ringed plover were on the salt-marsh.  The egret was later seen again from the junction lay-by, fishing in the channel and sometimes stalking across the grass.


Later: the grey lores, a pinkish base to the lower mandible, and the greenish legs mean this is an immature bird. Wonder where that was bred.



Two little egrets have been reported in Assynt recently, so this could be one of those relocating. They're now pretty common in the south-east of England, but this was my first in Scotland. Twite and stonechats were seen elsewhere, and a reed bunting was on the wires back at the main road. A golden eagle was spotted over - frustratingly - a very distant ridge.


A pale arc of the moon (the waxing crescent, apparently) was visible just above the same ridge and so appearing huge - but any hopes of getting a picture of the eagle flying against the moon were shot down in flames when the eagle moved off in the opposite direction. Still - a lovely, golden day.

I wanted to follow up the brief sighting of a black grouse we'd had on a hill-walk in August, but didn't get the early start I'd intended. Two cars were already in the car park, and the walkers might or might not have taken the track up through the plantation, possibly flushing the grouse if it was still around. Oh well, I thought, I'm here now, I might as well go up anyway.

It was a warm, brightish morning and I enjoyed the walk. But half an hour later the weather had closed in over the mountains and it looked as though rain was heading my way; so up beyond the stream-crossing, beyond where we'd seen the bird, I turned. Going back down I got careless, because suddenly there was a thunderous flapping from the long grass at the edge of the pines and four or five grouse lifted off and winged down the hillside and out of sight.

They were in view for just a few seconds, but I saw one definite male - glossy black with white flashes on the wings - while at least one of the others had the brown plumage of female or juvenile birds.

The only other birds around were a dozen or so redwings, and distantly from the hills came the moaning roar of stags. The red deer rut has begun.

We walked over the cliffs to the broch at Clachtoll on this gorgeous autumn day, where the best bird was a wheatear.



Another wheatear had been seen earlier as we left Stoer lighthouse - where two barnacle geese and a whole bunch of rock pipits were the only other noteworthy sightings.

The crossbills were in flight over the tops of the conifers near the cattlegrid on the A837; I heard their soft chatter from the car and for once, was able to pull off the road close to where they landed.

Nine out of twelve birds got themselves into this pic, including one of only three females.


Otherwise, the only other birds along this stretch of road today were redpolls, siskins, meadow pipits, a flock of goldfinches containing a reed bunting, and a kestrel. By about one-thirty the dull but dry and still morning was over and rain coming in from the southeast put an end to my birding.

Yesterday it rained and blew all day, and in desperation I went out for a walk late afternoon - without bins or camera, which felt kind of weird. Along West Shore, eleven turnstones being driven reluctantly along the waterline by a couple of walkers reminded me that on Saturday I'd seen eleven golden plover at Achnahaird - and one wheatear. On the ferry terminal door was a notice advising there would be no sailings from Stornoway until today.