Christine's walking & birds blog

A pair of black-throated divers lounged about just off-shore as I ate my lunch at Badentarbat.


Just beyond them was a juvenile black guillemot, while a family of Eider paddled in the shallows; and a gannet sped in and then sped out again.

Across the headland, the beach car park was pretty full but I just squeezed in. A walk around the dunes and the beach was pleasant but brought just one dunlin with three ringed plovers, a family of redpolls, and several wheatears. Three or four red-throated divers were out on the bay, and I just caught sight of a fin as either a porpoise or a dolphin broke the surface briefly - and then disappeared for good.

The explosion of tourists continues; at the car park, loads of bagged rubbish stood by the overflowing bins - which is what they ask you not to do. As most people get here by car, you would think they could easily take this rubbish away with them. I begin to despair of human beings; but at least there isn't much rubbish strewn around the place, so I s'pose we should be grateful for that. The public toilet at Badentarbat is open and has been for at least a week - so I'm not sure why they can't all be. Nicola is now urging Scots to "staycation" rather than go abroad; fine, Nicola, but in that case, get those blinking loos open - or do you expect us to cross our legs until we get home again?!