Christine's walking & birds blog

It was great to spot and snap my first golden eagle of the year from the car.

Trouble was, I'd pulled into a passing place on a single-track road to do it - and wouldn't you just know it, on this fairly quiet day two cars met there at the same time and I found myself in an embarrassing situation. However, I waved and mouthed "Sorry" to both drivers - but carried on clicking away, leaving them to sort themselves out. Well, no-one hooted at me anyway.

From there, things went even more downhill. I ate lunch at Badentarbat, adding just a male merganser to my year list, then set off on the usual round trip.  I started to feel that there was something not quite right with the brakes - they stopped the car okay, but then felt spongy. I decided to call off the diversion to Achnahaird beach when a warning light came on - low brake fluid level. Blast! The car had its annual service and MOT less than two months ago, so it must have sprung a leak. I drove home slowly and carefully. My birding was over for the day but at least I got a record shot of the eagle.