Thursday, May 04, 2023

There was something on Loch Cul Dromannan, glimpsed through its fringe of trees as I drove north - and as the road was empty I veered across to the other side and parked in the access to the masts. The "something" turned out to be three tufted ducks.


I tended to take tufties for granted down south, where they're fairly common on both the Thames and the Jubilee River; but they are scarce on the north-west coast of Scotland, and it's always nice to see them.  Small groups often seem to spend a bit of time on this loch in spring, possibly on their way into Assynt where a few pairs sometimes breed (that information from various sources, including assyntwildlife.org.uk).

I carried on to Knockan Crag and did the trail in a terrific wind; on the top at the viewpoint I nearly got blown off my feet. I looked in vain for the frogspawn I'd spotted earlier in the year in the little bog by the benches, but the pool had shrunk considerably and become muddied, and I doubt if there were any tadpoles in it.  Neither was there any sign of ring ouzels or yesterday's whinchat. (I was wondering why my picture of the whinchat had a grainy look about it - I discovered this morning that my camera had been on the macro setting!)

Another first for me yesterday was the arrival of three very smart lesser black-backed gulls on Lochan an Ais, below Knockan Crag (in fact, we often refer to it as Knockan Lochan). Two landed on the water together and a third joined them before taking off again and flying circuits over the surrounding moorland. There was no sign of them today; the lochan was quiet except for the distant call of a common sandpiper.

// posted by Christine @ 9:33 AM
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