Christine's walking & birds blog

I was hoping to see a different family, but there was no sign of any ring ouzels. The juvenile wheatears were being fed by their father; I couldn't see a female but didn't hang around in case I disturbed them.


A greenshank was heard down on the lochan, but a scan of the shoreline brought nothing. A camper van stopped in the lay-by, and two men and a little girl got out and walked towards a stag grazing by a fence on a grassy bank above the road. They spent some time taking photos with their mobiles and edging closer, but eventually returned to their van.  They'd been kind of blocking me in, so as they set off I walked back towards my car; as they drove past the stag (on the same side of the road as they were) they tooted their horn. I saw the stag start, raise its head and brace its hind legs as if for flight. In the end it stayed where it was and then settled back to feeding. But what a daft thing to do; it couldn't go uphill because of the fence, so there was a risk of it running down and across the road. The stupidity of people who think wildlife is there for their entertainment never ceases to amaze me.