Saturday, November 28, 2020
Shadows on the beach......
It's the second time I've recorded treecreeper in the garden, and the sighting was especially welcome as we've failed to see one along the river paths this year.
Sunday, November 15, 2020
On an afternoon walk round the village, we were surprised to see that the Arch Inn still had its tables out; and as, during the summer, it had always been crammed with visitors, we decided to stop and have what will probably be our only outside beer of the year (in fact, my only beer of the year and one of the very few pints Greger's had - his willpower in cutting out beer as part of his bid to lose weight has amazed me).
There were eider and shags milling about in groups, and two black guillemots diving a bit closer in.
A few days ago at Achnahaird, a small pool in the dunes that I always scan in hopes of a snipe yielded instead a teal - a bit unusual here, I think. On the same day, several teal were reported in Assynt.
On the sea, two great northern divers were fishing close together. One appears to be an adult fading into winter plumage, the other is probably a juvenile.
One of the divers "wailed" briefly - a rising call with the clear, carrying quality that makes it so haunting. I quickly switched the camera to video mode and waited for some time - but, as is usually the case, the bird didn't call again.
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
What an exasperating day! I got away quite late and decided against Achnahaird. Instead, I would head north and then east to look for crossbills in the forestry plantations - and I drove away from a village basking in sunshine, with the loch sparkling below. Turning right at Ledmore Junction, I thought "Nice - autumn mists!" Loch Borralan looked particularly fetching with scarves of pearly white draped above its perfectly visible surface. A bit further on, very little was perfectly visible - in fact, I was now driving through thick fog.
Extra care was need to negotiate the single-track road (which was being used today mainly by speedy vans and large trucks), but I carried on to Loch Craggie, heartened by the appearance of a blurry sun. However the mist closed in again and after a walk of perhaps half a mile I gave up, unable to see a thing. Somewhere down there is a lovely green strath with the River Oykel winding through it.
I drove back to the cattle grid where it was a lot clearer, and had my lunch. This is sometimes a good place for crossbills - but nothing today. I decided to give up and go home. As I turned left at Ledmore, I looked back east to see a clear blue sky - while to the west, a wedge of dark cloud was fanning out from the direction of Ullapool. :o(
It was too late to turn back again - the short day would soon be ending. Well, at least it wasn't raining. I decided to park at the golf club and walk down to the beach. And there I saw a redshank.
Common wader, useless shot - but it saved the day. In my limited experience here I think redshank is fairly unusual in mid-November, so it was a nice surprise. Who needs Hudsonian godwits anyway!
