Friday, June 16, 2023
Beyond the Stoer Head Lighthouse the ground rises slightly, providing a good spot from which to scan the sea.
I sat there for a couple of hours, and, hoodwinked by a cool breeze from the north, failed to put Ambre Solaire on my legs, ending up with sunburnt knees - and not a single whale or dolphin to show for it!
I think I chose the wrong day. Early on the horizon was obliterated by haar - and even when the mist eventually cleared, there was a milky quality to the air and sea. Looking to my left (south) was pointless thanks to the intense sparkling of the water in the sun, and even when I did see something mildly interesting straight out, it was almost impossible to locate it through the camera viewfinder. A solitary porpoise snorkelling its way through a bunch of shags cheered me temporarily; and it was heartening to see a bonxie, even if it was feeding on something in the water that looked like a dead auk. But when there was a sudden burst of action involving a juvenile kittiwake and the bonxie (at least, I think it's a great skua though it could be a dark form Arctic), I just clicked away in their general direction without realising until I got home that an Arctic skua had also been present.
That would have been a year tick if I'd realised what I was looking at, but I'm strict with my ticks and won't count it. The great skua, having apparently seen it off, then went back to picking at the auk carcass.
As I drove into Clachtoll on my way home, a magpie flew low across the grass and landed on a sheep. Magpies are pretty scarce on the north-west coast, and I stopped on the single-track road and fumbled for my camera; but the magpie was wary and flew off. I then became aware of two cars approaching from the opposite direction, and I had to quickly put the camera down and reverse to the nearest passing place; so all I've got is this image from my dash-cam, with the magpie approaching the sheep.
