Christine's walking & birds blog

Yesterday in the Coigach area: a walk round the dunes and across the beach brought a handful of sanderling and dunlin with ringed plovers.

On the drive out, I parked by the second cattle grid and walked down to the loch. A golden-ringed dragonfly flew up from a boulder but settled again on another rock. I got gradually closer until I was sitting a few feet away; I couldn't see what she had caught, but in the lovely peace and quiet of the place I could hear the sound of her feeding. Her ovipositor is visible in the lower picture.

A Volucella plumata bee mimic was seen in the same place as last year.

The previous day, Ardmair was productive. An otter quite a way out was munching something held between its paws. As I watched it through the bins a familiar call came from my left - and there on the waterline was a redshank.

There had been a real downpour a little earlier, so I guess it had taken refuge on the open beach. A man in a canoe or kayak (I can never remember the difference) coming in to shore put the wader to flight, and it relocated to the spit - where I've seen redshanks once before. A common bird, but the sight of it really cheered me. Waders are on the move! Then two red-throated divers flew in.

On the far side of Loch Kanaird, a great skua chased a gannet the length of Isle Martin before giving up and returning to the fish farm. In fact, half a dozen gannets were fishing out over the bay. Finally, a raven cruised along the lay-by looking for anything edible. Not bad for a brief visit.