Christine's walking & birds blog

The distant tops were speckled with snow and there was ice on the puddles ahead of me as I walked up through the plantation known as Altan Wood.


It was about 3ºC but the cold was easy to cope with because there was no wind.  A sudden flapping came from the right of the track and a male black grouse flew across in front of me giving great views but no chance of a photo. It had taken off from the ground where I suppose they're feeding now (possibly on heather seeds) as there are no birch catkins yet.

The stream was low and I crossed without any problem, enjoying the uphill walk and the far-ranging views. I ate my sandwiches at the end of the track and started off back. Where a fork runs down to the footbridge, another flapping made me jump - but again, it happened too quickly for a photo and I could only stand and admire the rich red-brown plumage of a woodcock as it sped away down the hill between the pines. Last year on 1st November I flushed a woodcock in roughly the same spot.

I took the fork downhill to see if I could get a further sighting - and from the bank above there were a couple of squeaky calls; a snipe species (probably common) took off and flew behind the plantation and out of sight. I wondered how many other delectable birds were hunkered down in the wet grass. Well, there was no point chasing them, I thought, and turned back up to rejoin the main track; and just after I got there, a slightly quieter wing-flapping turned out to be a fieldfare. This isn't the first time I've seen an apparently solitary fieldfare here.

After this I decided to be prepared, and took my camera out of the case. This became awkward; I have a new camera case which isn't so good for looping on my rucksack belt so I carry it slung across my body, and the empty camera case was now flapping about in the way of my elbow. Eventually I gave up and put the camera away again - and I hadn't walked more than five paces before two black grouse took off from the grass just in front of me and winged off up the hill. Aaarrrgh! (One, I just had time to note, was a female.)

Despite the fading light, the stonechat demanded a picture as I had nothing else to show for the walk!


As I dropped down to the road, a familiar hollow sound heralded four whooper swans flying over the moorland. Here, they are just four dots in line with my car.


I drove on to the lay-by at the end of Loch Glascarnoch (where the water level is very low - the parapets of the bridge were visible) and saw four whoopers feeding on the exposed area just beyond the old road. Fortunately there was no-one else in the lay-by and I remained in the car so as not to disturb them.



Visibility was now a problem and I set off for home, noting with a sinking heart that I had to turn on my lights before I reached Ullapool. But on the plus side I'd had a great walk in bright, dry weather and some interesting birdy encounters.