Friday, December 31, 2021
We did our old lockdown walk from home on this mild and unusually still day. The tide had turned but was still very low - and from the river spit I could only just make out a small flock of ringed plover on the far side of the golf-course spit, on the edge of the loch. I could see something different (a dunlin? bit dark and dumpy, surely) among them, but it was only when I took a photo and zoomed in on it that I could see it was a purple sandpiper.
We walked quickly round to the golf-course (hoping the waders wouldn't, meanwhile, relocate to the river spit) and went out onto the exposed shingle - from where we could see that there were in fact two sandpipers. A flock of turnstone that we hadn't noticed took off and flew past us, uttering the chattering call that's almost a trill - and another, flutier note. They flew low across the river and went down among the sea-weedy boulders where they were lost to sight.
A few minutes later, something made the plovers take off and they flew over to the part of the spit we were standing on. All the birds were difficult to see, but we could just about pick out the sandpipers. One had a longer bill than the other.
Saturday, December 25, 2021
It was a beautiful day, crisp and cold with blue sky and bright sunshine. A walk near Loch Glascarnoch brought five adult whooper swans, one male stonechat, a raven, and three black grouse.
Thursday, December 16, 2021
There were at least three bramblings in the garden today, and this was the first time I've seen one actually on the feeder stand - although it didn't attempt to land on the feeder itself. I think they're too big for that.
Yesterday, I had a walk at Loch Glascarnoch - where I saw one mistle thrush, one fieldfare, and a pair of stonechats. A second walk up the wind-farm road brought a black grouse flying over. Despite the lack of birds, I enjoyed my short walks in some rare sunshine; and when I got home I spotted two bramblings and a male blackcap in the garden. As I watched them in failing light, an eagle flew over; so I rushed outside and clicked off a few unsatisfactory shots.
Sunday, December 12, 2021
A day spent indoors was enlivened by the presence of quite a few birds in the garden, including at least one brambling.
I don't know if the other bramblings are still around, but the beautiful yellow berries they were feeding on out the back are all gone. The winter thrushes descended on the tree two days ago and stripped it.
Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Today was mostly about raptors. After a short walk at the dam - a male stonechat the only bird seen - I was eating my sandwiches in the car when I spotted a distant raptor that seemed, on looking through the bins, to have a forked tail. I then lost it, but during a short walk up the thawing but still icy wind-farm road, I saw it again a bit closer as it headed south along the loch. I think I can put red kite on the Loch Glascarnoch list - if I can only find the Loch Glascarnoch list, which is probably on the back of an old envelope somewhere.
I drove on, pulling in finally at the big lay-by at the northern end of the loch; but the water level is now very high and the only birds I could see were a pair of mallards. Turning the other way I scanned the moorland across the road and then the plantation a little way up the slope - where a solitary black grouse was sitting in a small birch tree.
Sunday, December 05, 2021
The village is full of winter thrushes. This is cheering as I decided to stay at home and get some domestic tasks done. Flocks of fieldfare and redwing occasionally fly up from the unseen places where they're feeding, streaming across the sky (and our garden) when disturbed or forming dark blobs at the top of bare trees.
Bramblings are again feeding on the yellow rowan berries out the back. Observing and snapping them isn't easy as there's a fairly high wall, a large generator, part of a shed, and several branches in the way. I counted eight individuals, and all eight are in the first picture (just visible when clicked up).
Saturday, December 04, 2021
As I pulled into the lay-by at Ardmair and got out of the car, I was aware of two things. The first was a white-tailed sea eagle, flying low along the beach towards the spit - and the second was the ghostly tremolo call of a great northern diver carrying up from the sea.
The eagle landed among the seaweed-covered rocks while a couple of gulls dive-bombed it, and one pursued it as it flew away - carrying something, possibly, but my picture's too poor to tell what.
