Christine's walking & birds blog

Yesterday, I returned to Ardmair - where I was the only idiot taking a walk in horrendously strong winds from the south-west. I decided on an anti-clockwise circuit and set off along the grassy verge, which is separated from the camp-site by a fenced-in strip of trees. There was a panicky fluttering sound ahead and a reddish-brown bird flew away from me and then in towards the chalets. I think this was a woodcock. I walked carefully past the holiday chalets, noting that their gardens were ideal for sheltering a woodcock - but not daring to use my bins in case they should be inhabited (although there were no cars next to them, and I'm pretty sure they were all empty). Rounding the point, I got the full force of the wind and changed my mind about walking along the beach, retracing my steps to the car.

Today I went back. There were still unusually large numbers of gulls although not, I think, as many as on the 22nd. Now and then a feeding frenzy began and birds would stream across the water to join in. Some noticeable splashes far off near Isle Martin resulted in a lucky shot of a fin - porpoise, I think.

Razorbills and shags were on Loch Kanaird, and a male stonechat was foraging along the beach. A rather beautiful black-headed gull made my heart skip a beat as its rosy underparts suggested something much more rare - but I couldn't make it into a Ross's gull (or a slender-billed gull!) no matter how hard I tried.