Christine's walking & birds blog

A redshank was present at the river spit, my second here this year but a first for the lockdown walk list.

It would be nice to think this is a bona fide glaucous gull, preening and loafing with other gulls on the island in the Ullapool River. But there seems to be a brownish tint to some of the flight feathers, so I have to assume it's the same old viking that's been haunting the harbour for some time now. I thought at first that the bird was just bathing and preening, but it seemed to be doing an unusual amount of head-dipping - and keeping its head underwater for long periods.


One of my snaps seems to show that it caught something, although I didn't see this at the time.


A singing goldcrest was new for the walk list, and when we got home a swallow hunting over the roof-tops was new for the garden list (and for the year).