Monday, July 22, 2019
Yesterday: The car park at Achnahaird was full so I parked back up the road near the chalet and walked across the moorland. Two great skuas were seen at a huge distance, possibly a juvenile and an adult - the latter involved in some kind of a struggle.
Three black guillemots seemed to watch for a while before turning away, which suggests the victim was one of their number - although at one point, a shag flew over the scene as if to see what was going on. In the end, distance and glare defeated me so I can't say what the outcome was; but I think I was seeing an attempt to drown an auk species of some kind by the bonxie.
I wanted to try and confirm the sighting of a water shrew I had in a rocky cove about ten days ago so made my way down to the sea, where I had lunch. I couldn't be sure the animal wasn't dark brown, which might have pointed to a common shrew or a mouse of some kind. After a long, fruitless wait I had stood up and was preparing to leave when I caught the briefest glimpse of a small black creature darting round a boulder just below the bank I was on. After a few minutes, I caught sight of it again - but further away - and the animal was definitely black. These were frustrating glimpses though, and I hope for a better view some time.
// posted by Christine @ 6:00 AM 
