Christine's walking & birds blog

A late afternoon stroll along the river brought something like 200+ kittiwake out on the loch. I didn't see them until they took off and headed for the river mouth; they settled for a while but I was (as usual) looking into the sun - so I don't know if they were preening or feeding.


After a while they took off again and flew up the loch. Presumably the same ones came back a bit later and occupied the further spit. This didn't last long, as the ferry was coming in - and its backwash sent rippling waves over the slender arm of shingle.


There were many juvenile birds with striking plumage which were flighty and mobile because they were being chased by corvids, including jackdaws - not the best conditions for trying to locate a Sabine's gull. It might have been there, but I didn't see it. I just enjoyed the spectacle of so many gulls, jostling for position as the tide steadily rose.

As I walked back to my car along West Terrace, I glanced down across the bull park to see one of the corvids chasing a wader along the waterline; this proved to be a knot. Once again, I could only grab a record shot before it disappeared.


It could be the bird I saw last week - which, I've only just realised, was my first knot in
Ullapool.