Wednesday, February 17, 2021
I was determined to get out for a walk today despite high winds and rain. Greger gave me a lift down to the front - and as I got out of the car, it stopped raining and the sun came out.
Looking back at the ferry from West Shore Street I saw an Iceland gull land briefly - probably the same one I snapped at the spit.
I clicked off a shot as it flew away and was surprised to see another white winger in the photo as I didn't notice it at the time. I suppose it could be the old viking gull.
A handful of small birds flying up the loch right out in the middle were not waders, but passerines. No idea what they were - possibly rock or even meadow pipits, maybe. At least 50 greylag geese were just offshore, three curlews were dozing at the water's edge, and a bunch of oystercatchers were busily feeding in the now-soft earth of the camp-site. With them was a bar-tailed godwit - my first in Ullapool.
In winter, bar-tailed godwits can be seen in numbers at Udale Bay - but the east coast is out of bounds at the moment, which made this one extra special.
It's a pity that some choose not to follow the rules, because it potentially affects us all. Twitchers who drove miles and miles to see a northern mocking bird in Devon are just a few of the nuisances who think they're not involved in what's going on in the world. On twitter, someone thinks it "ridiculous, police wasting time on birders". What?! Twerp.
