Sunday, March 01, 2020
What a beautiful day! Blue skies and sunshine, and a coldish wind that reminded you not to get too uppity yet!
I heard the snow buntings before I saw them as I made my way across the Loch Glascarnoch dam behind some other people. There seemed to be seven buntings, and they were once again on the steeply sloping outer wall of the dam; but I think they flew there from the grassy slope, having been disturbed by us walkers. Taking refuge on the face of the dam, they either sat still or pecked about in the clumps of moss.
I've been reading up on snow buntings: About 60 pairs are reckoned to breed in Scotland (and therefore in the UK, as they breed only here). The majority are in the Cairngorms, with smaller numbers elsewhere, mostly in the north-west Highlands. There are two subspecies breeding in Scotland; Plectrophenax nivalis nivalis (the nominate race) and P. nivalis insulae. But only in the Cairngorms are birds of the first race found (and only a few of them among the more numerous insulae), these tending to be lighter in colour than the second race and with a whiter rump. I'm not sure if any of the nominate race were present today.
I drove back to the weather station car park and walked up into Altan Wood. It was hard going. The snow in the middle of the track was pitted with the hoof prints of deer, and I couldn't help thinking of ticks and Lyme disease. As I started to climb, the vehicle tracks either side of the snow became mini-streams of water, although as I climbed higher, the water turned to slushy ice.
Looking back at the lovely hills beyond Loch Glascarnoch, with the loch just visible to the right.....
Meanwhile, at home, Greger had been indulging in some bird photography of his own. He'd glanced casually out of the back window to see if anything was visiting the bird feeder, and was startled to see a female pheasant on the wall. It looked so big!
She had disappeared by the time I got back. I scooped tea-towels from the washing machine and hung them on the line in the sun - and an hour later, I had to run out to bring them back in again as it had started to rain! Back to normal.
// posted by Christine @ 8:51 AM 
