Saturday, December 24, 2022
Sometimes, returning time and again to a spot where you've now and then seen snow buntings seems to be akin to flogging a dead horse. (What a horrible expression. I hope I would never flog a horse, alive or dead!) But we always enjoy a walk at Loch Glascarnoch, so any birds seen are a bonus. There were still no snow buntings today (I think they're all on the beach at Dornoch), but a dipper was a welcome sight just above the dam.
A male kestrel which was my first for the year was hunting along a distant ridge - and that was it! Even the stonechats seem to have deserted the site.
On the previous visit, the only bird we saw was a corvid flying towards us as we walked back to the dam. At first it looked rather small and we weren't quite sure whether it was a raven or a hoodie, Greger remarking "If we were down south I might have said that was a carrion crow." With impeccable timing, the bird swung its head towards us and uttered four very ravenesque "krak" calls as if to say "Oy! Who are you calling a carrion crow?!"
