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!
