Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Yesterday: I was sitting out a shower of rain in my car on West Terrace when I spotted a flock of dark-looking ducks flying about above the loch beyond the river mouth. It was difficult to follow them with the bins and even more difficult to find them with the camera. I thought at the time that they might be scoter, but looking at the few distant photos I got, I realised they were more likely to be scaup or tufted ducks because of the long white wing bar. Pochard is also possible, although I think they'd look more front-heavy than these. I think 18 tufties would be a large number for the area, so it's possible they were scaup. Dunno.
When I first saw them and while I was trying to snap them, the sea and the Summer Isles were invisible; after I lost the flock for the last time I noticed that the cloud had lifted. It's possible then that the mist/rain had driven them into the loch, and when it cleared they flew back out to sea.
Today we drove south down the coast to Poolewe, where we found fourteen Brent geese on the beach by the lay-by.
On the way home along the Destitution Road, Greger pointed out a small raptor jinking about in the sky above the moorland; I'm pretty sure it was a merlin, but by the time he could pull in it was nowhere to be seen. As I got out of the car, a snipe species flew from a nearby ditch and over a slight rise in the ground before dropping out of sight. I heard no call, and it flew low in a straight line - so possibly Jack, but I can't be certain. I don't seem certain of anything these days!
