Friday, April 15, 2022
Beinn Liath Mhor a' Ghiubhais Li (seventh time)
Desperate to try a hill-walk for the first time this year and not at all sure I could manage it, I suggested an old favourite so that I at least knew what I was in for. Once again we used two cars, leaving Greger's at the near end of Loch Glascarnoch and driving on in mine to the wind-farm road for speedy, dry access to higher ground. A pair of mistle thrushes, several meadow pipits, and a skylark were seen on the way up the road; and a pair of teal flew down the hill, their green speculums evident through the bins.
A thin piping call alerted us to the presence of a golden plover - a second one becoming visible as we walked on and gained height.
A splash of red against the greenish-white reindeer moss could be a cup lichen, or it could be the spore-containing structures of the reindeer moss itself. More research needed. A frog was spotted nearby and a distant greenshank was heard - possibly a flyover.
As we descended to the col before the ascent to the highest top on the ridge, I heard from behind us a faint, familiar sound which gradually grew louder. The pink-footed geese were flying below the skyline, and I only got onto them as they passed in front of a snow patch on the hill flank. There were about 80 birds.
They seemed set to follow the line across a col between that hill and ours, which would have made sense - but at the last moment they turned, and flew over the col we were on, heading then towards the Beinn Dearg group - where we lost them. That wouldn't get them anywhere - there are high mountains ahead and the cloud was low. No doubt they sorted themselves out.
Only one wheatear was spotted on the walk, and he didn't hang around.
When we reached the summit plateau I first scanned ahead and then strode from side to side of this broad area hunting for ptarmigan, unaware that Greger was recording my activities for posterity.
I took this picture of him when we had dropped down from the top.....
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.....about five minutes before he spotted a male and female ptarmigan just below us on the slope.
Hurray! First ptarmies of the year. As we picked our way down, I looked back and saw another one on the skyline.
And as we'd inadvertently tracked to the side in our descent, we saw the pair once more.
We left them still picking about among the rocks; they didn't fly.
The route for our descent today was over Meall Daimh, rather than down through the plantation. We'd used it on our first walk on this hill - and now we began to remember how steep and rough it is. Two pairs of red grouse were flushed, and on two occasions a mountain hare ran past us up the slope. In the centre of this picture is the second hare - just visible.
Meall Daimh is only 532m high but the broad ridge still has a "tundra" feel to it and I wanted to walk along it to the end.
......with the going now slightly easier, and the car tantalisingly in sight - so near, and yet so far!
There is one last obstacle - a nuisance of a wooden structure which is the obvious place to get over the deer fence and which would work well if it took the place of the fence here - but it's set against the fence, so that your feet, trying to step on the wood, get tangled in the wire.
Having finally clambered over without mishap, we were soon on the road and driving back to fetch my car - almost in disbelief, given our earlier fears, that we'd actually done a hill-walk!
// posted by Christine @ 12:18 PM 
