Christine's walking & birds blog

A walk at Longart Forest provided welcome exercise - but not much was seen. A buzzard, a flyover crossbill, a handful of siskins, several coal tits, and a single great tit completed the list, while a wren and a goldcrest were heard singing.

Having read my last post, political pedant Greger pointed out that in the general election, I voted for Ian Blackford - who is, it's true, SNP - but of course he sits in Westminster; while it was the Scottish government in Edinburgh that turned down the proposals for a golf course at Coul Links. :o)

A greenfinch was wheezing in the garden this morning. The hills are white with snow, but as the evening closes in, down here at sea level it's raining.

Some good news! Coul Links is safe - the Scottish government has refused planning permission for a golf course. I knew there'd be some reason for me to be glad I voted SNP in the general election!

I drove up to the mast above the Braes and had a short walk.  Bullfinches and siskins were present in the plantations, and chaffinches and goldcrests were singing. Best of all, at least two crossbills are still around.

A golden eagle was spotted in the distance to the east, and a bit later a white-tailed sea eagle came sailing across high from the north.


It circled once, giving me a good view - the picture confirming this was an immature bird.


Out on the open hillside, three meadow pipits were a surprise and a delight - and when I later drove to Ardmair, I was greeted by a rich rolling call as two skylarks flew past. Birds are on the move!


A summer-plumaged black guillemot was far out on the sea, and an otter was swimming along parallel with the beach. Back in Ullapool, my first mistle thrush of the year was seen in alders by the golf course clubhouse.


In the garden, two robins were occupying separate twigs in the same bush, stretching up their heads and necks and swaying from side to side. I don't know if this is fighting or courting - but in the end, one flew away.

Intrigued by the two unidentified grouse we flushed four days ago, I returned to Loch Glascarnoch on the off-chance they would be there again. This is the track along the north-western side of the loch, looking back towards the dam.


Again, it was a mixed bag with regard to weather; one moment blue sky and even a gleam of sunshine - the next all hell breaking loose with a strengthening wind and sleet or hail stinging my face. A single dark bird rose from the rough grass-and-heather ahead and flew up the hill, turning to follow the ridge back the way I had come. It was flying high....


.....but a hugely cropped pic just shows a shallowly forked tail.


This was a female black grouse. I was surprised to see her because as I set out, a Scottish & Southern Energy vehicle was making its way along the loch to the tiny Loch Vaich Power Station; and I thought this would flush any grouse from the side of the track before I could get there.

I walked back to my car in a whirl of snowflakes which were doing their best to settle. I drove across the bleak moorland between whitening verges, but the road fortunately remained just wet.

Last night, a single flash of lightning and clap of thunder heralded the fiercest hailstorm we've experienced here. The clattering on the bathroom skylight was so loud I really thought the glass might break!


And then, as abruptly as it had begun, it ended. Excitement over.

Returning to the dam hoping for another sighting of the grouse we flushed yesterday, I was surprised to see that the solitary snow bunting (or at any rate, a snow bunting) was still around. I slowed up and walked more carefully, and it ran on at a little distance, keeping an eye on my progress but stopping frequently to feed.


It foraged in the short grass in the usual hunched-up manner of snow buntings, but now and then it would reach up to the top of a groundsel plant.....


.....and detach the fluffy white seeds.


Eventually, the bunting flew up onto the wall - when it caught light from the water and looked gorgeous - then flew back towards the road.

I struggled along the track into a phenomenal wind, glad to see both stonechats up the slope among the pine saplings. But no grouse were to be seen - and as I trudged back across the dam, the snow bunting had also gone AWOL.

I'd made good use of a short dry interlude, but as I headed back towards Ullapool great dark clouds were being driven across the sky and the rain came lashing down again. I sat in my car on Shore Street, seeing the viking gull (probably) and an Iceland gull cruising round the harbour. When the rain eased off, I walked out onto the quayside and snapped the latter as it stood, hunched against the weather, with the other gulls.


The wind was ferocious, and I was glad to retreat to my car. Snow bunting and Iceland gull, I mused as I drove home - very different, but both tough birds of the north with lovely wintry names.

Just one snow bunting was on the dam today, braving a strong gusty wind and the occasional shower of rain.


We took a short walk across the dam and along the track. One of the stonechats was spotted a little way up the slope - and then suddenly two chunky birds rose from the rough grass below and flew off across the loch, gaining height and finally disappearing towards the wind farm. I flushed a red grouse along this track a year or so ago, and it flew off low, away from the loch and up the hill. These birds flew strongly with rapid wingbeats - but I can't say for sure that they were black grouse.

Returning to the car, we saw an immature golden eagle soaring way above the Aultguish Inn. A calling raven on its territory, a pair of mallards on the loch, and a buzzard as we drove home were the only other birdie encounters; but we'd enjoyed some fresh air and exercise on a day when we didn't expect to get either.

Greger took this shot towards Loch Droma and the Beinn Dearg group as we climbed up through Altan Wood.


We were hoping for black grouse but could manage only two goldcrests before we had to turn back at the stream. In any case, it was hard going in the snow.

Driving along Loch Glascarnoch we pulled into the dam lay-by, from where I spotted two snow buntings on the wall. After lunch, we walked across the dam and saw between ten and fifteen buntings feeding on the grassy slopes below. They took short runs in the snow and often reached up to the tips of the tall grasses; in my few previous sightings of these birds they've been in the hunched, creeping posture they adopt when feeding on detached seeds on the ground.

It was a nice day, so we drove south along the coast, and spotted a solitary Slavonian grebe - looking markedly black-and-white - from the high car park in Aultbea. I snapped it at sea-level, but although the sea was relatively calm, the grebe was still fairly distant!


A merlin flew across the road near Mungasdale, and around 150 barnacle geese were on the sheep fields there.

The stonechat landed on the gorse bush as I pulled into the lay-by above Loch Glascarnoch, with some sort of insect larva in his bill.


He seems to be whacking his prey on the prickly stems, but I don't think he was; he kept lowering his head, as though he was feeding another bird below, and then I caught him as he brought it back up again.  Surely they're not nesting already?! A short walk up through Altan Wood brought no grouse, just a flock of long-tailed tits, a coal tit, and two goldcrests chasing each other round a pine tree.

A walk up through the plantation as far as the stream brought just one black grouse, flying across the track and disappearing into the conifers. Returning to Ullapool, I found a black guillemot in the harbour, unusually close. It was diving every couple of minutes.


Other pictures of the guillemot show a clean white oval wing patch, so presumably it's an adult. I've seen three other BGs since the start of the year, already in full breeding plumage; this one is a bit behind. A rock pipit was also around the harbour.

It was cold at Ardmair but at least the rain kept off. I stopped to snap a beached fish which was approximately 18cm long.