Christine's walking & birds blog: November 2023

Thursday, November 30, 2023

I can't recall seeing a kestrel at Ardmair before - unless the small raptor I saw here six days ago was this bird, and not a merlin as I thought at the time. Oops.

The kestrel flew over Loch Kanaird and disappeared against the cliffs leading up to Glutton Crag, a well-known rock climb according to information I've found on the internet. Other birds seen: great northern diver, shags, black guillemot, eiders, and pied wagtail.

// posted by Christine @ 2:00 PM 0 comments

Friday, November 24, 2023

Today was rainier than it was supposed to be, and the tides were wrong for finding dip-feeding gulls again. Yesterday's pics were taken an hour before high tide, but high tide today was either at 4.30 am or 4.30 pm, both occurring in the dark. At lowish tide today, most gulls were resting far away. However, I did see three red-throated divers on the sea (one calling) while a fourth bird flew over; and a ringed plover alarm calling from the beach alerted me to a small raptor flying over. Its fast wing-beats and speedy flight suggested merlin - but I'm not sure.

Returning to the village I remembered the new 20 mph speed limit, and as I approached the pedestrian crossing I saw a small boy on the other side of the road looking as though he was about to cross. As I slowed to a halt, a car came from the opposite direction and drove straight on. If the boy hadn't been watching, he might have walked into the path of the car. I don't know what the law is now in England (it used to be a Russian roulette sort of affair, with pedestrians unsure whether cars were prepared to stop or not because they weren't legally obliged to) but here in Scotland it has been unlawful for motorists not to stop at least all the time we've lived here. It's the second time I've seen this happen; on the first occasion, I was walking up the road, and a young boy had actually started to cross from the other side in front of a halted car when a camper van came up the road - and kept on going.

I parked on Shore Street and almost immediately noticed a white winger flying around the ferry. It flew in towards the buildings and landed on the roof of the Captain's Cabin.

As I couldn't see the entire bird I walked round to the Seaforth for a better look.

I walked out onto the harbour because I thought I'd seen a second white winger - and I managed one shot before it flew.

I don't know if this is a glaucous gull or the usual viking; but it's obviously not the same bird as the one on the roof - which I snapped from the harbour just in case (there are four fancy pigeons on the roof below the gulls, and I think the rectangular opening in the wall is their loft).

I would say the bird on the roof is a second winter Iceland Gull - which in this picture, has tucked its head back and gone to sleep.

// posted by Christine @ 9:09 AM 0 comments

Thursday, November 23, 2023

After a morning of domestic stuff, I drove to Ardmair on this rainy, windy day although the light by then was already poor. There were a few gulls dip-feeding along the edge of the waves, but before I could look at them properly another squall hit, with hard rain that was almost hail, and the wind driving bits of seaweed over the road and shaking the car. When it eased off I opened the window and saw among the larger gulls two black-headed - and beyond them, a bird with clean white wings. It landed on the water for a bit of a wash and proved to be a Mediterranean gull.

I thought that a juvenile with a dark W-marking might be a little gull but it was probably a kittiwake; I'll go back tomorrow when the light's better and hope they're all still there. Back in Ullapool, loads of gulls were making use of the new pontoons and a pied wagtail strutted along the pavement.

// posted by Christine @ 11:28 AM 0 comments

Sunday, November 19, 2023

We didn't feel like walking today, so we drove down the coast to Aultbea. It was a patchy day weather-wise, with clouds down on the hills and the odd shower of rain but also the odd burst of sunshine. A little grebe was in the harbour at Aultbea, but after admiring it we carried on up to the car park to have our coffee and buns.

There didn't seem to be anything out on Loch Ewe - until a Slavonian grebe surfaced. Miles away, but I took a record shot.

It's a long time since I've seen two species of grebe in one day. We drove home slowly, stopping here and there to see what was around. Naturally, along a stretch of road with no lay-bys, I spotted a group of five common scoter; this was somewhere between Laide and First Coast, in Gruinard Bay. Greger kindly did pull up at the roadside (there wasn't much traffic today) and I was able to grab a few pictures in worsening light.

From the Mungasdale lay-by we could see a hundred or so barnacle geese in the sheep field, and scanning Gruinard Island I spotted a white-tailed sea eagle flying swiftly north. Later, following the Destitution Road over the moors, we were struck by the atmospheric appearance of the Fannichs: great grey clouds hung low over their tops, parting now and then to reveal patches of snow high up but then closing in again; and the glen running into the heart of the mountains looked dark and forbidding. Approaching Ullapool we could see that the ferry was in - and it was Loch Seaforth, returned from her annual refit. Welcome back!

// posted by Christine @ 10:46 AM 0 comments

Monday, November 06, 2023

I heard the swans before I saw them - an oddly soft hooting sound rather than trumpeting - and then picked them up as they flew south, over the high land that separates Ardmair from Rhue. I took several shots and, poor though they are, they seem to show a family group, four juveniles flying between two adults. In two of the pictures the bill of the leading bird is open, so he/she was probably the one uttering the quiet contact calls.

As they disappeared over the high land between Ardmair and Rhue, I'm sorry to say that I realised these whoopers would be a first for me in Ullapool - if only I could get back there in time! I jumped in my car and drove homewards, pulling in to the long lay-by on Morefield hill - and there they were, way across the loch and still heading steadily south.

I can't put them on the one-mile list because I couldn't tell if they were over the water - which would put them within my mile marker - or closer to the rocky ridge. Serves you right, I told myself, for shamelessly chasing birds. However, I don't think I disturbed them, and they do give me an Ullapool tick as well as a first for Ardmair. Perhaps we'll see them on our next visit to Loch Glascarnoch or Loch Droma.

// posted by Christine @ 2:31 PM 0 comments

Saturday, November 04, 2023

At least three long-tailed ducks were seen from the lay-by in Poolewe on this still, bright day that was full of the colours of autumn.

Also present were several great northern divers, at least two Slavonian grebes, and a pair of mergansers. At Mungasdale, at least 150 barnacle geese were in the sheep fields, while a heron flapping slowly across to the Summer Isles fooled us both into thinking it was a white-tailed sea eagle!

As we turned into our road after a lovely day out, a bunch of chunky shapes at the top of a tree welcomed us home.

Greger counted twenty waxwings from the garden and I walked back to snap them, wondering if they were the same ones I'd seen at Ardmair.

// posted by Christine @ 12:27 PM 0 comments

Thursday, November 02, 2023

Bright, cold weather was a relief after yesterday's wind and rain, and I was called out to Ardmair where I failed to relocate the common scoter of two days' ago but did see a "strange" ferry coming into Loch Broom. I think MV Isle of Lewis is still standing in for MV Loch Seaforth - but this didn't look like either.

Rotten shot, but I just zoomed in and took a snap to see the name, as I couldn't make it out through the bins. It was MV Hebrides, which is sailing daily from Ullapool to Lochmaddy (North Uist) while Uig (on Skye) is having work done on its harbour. Calmac has quite a lot of juggling to do to cover all the routes and get each ship in for annual refit as well; they don't have a spare.

Back in the village I took a walk round the spit and through the camp-site; I was snapping a dark duck in case it was a scoter, even though I was pretty sure it was an eider, when I realised that the whitish bird in the same frame was not the expected black guillemot, but a long-tailed duck.

Like the Ardmair scoter it seemed to disappear into thin air, because scan as I might, I never saw it again! Still, it makes a nice addition to my "seen within one mile of home" list - bringing the total to 120.

// posted by Christine @ 7:53 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 01, 2023

Yesterday: A walk round at Ardmair brought a distant common scoter.

The scoter appeared to be heading into Loch Kanaird, but I lost sight of it; and a drive round to the Isle Martin jetty for further scanning proved fruitless.

I'm using stormy weather to trawl through my unwieldy blog for errors and unresolved issues. For instance: In March this year I had a moan about a sign on the wind-farm road, telling us to keep out; and blamed the landowner for getting high-handed. However, I've since seen these signs in other locations, e.g. building sites, and forestry roads while there is tree-felling. Meanwhile, the sign on the wind-farm road has disappeared, so it must have been a temporary closure to walkers. Oops. In April 2022, I took some pictures of a great black-backed gull in Ullapool harbour with what I thought was a puncture in its throat and a crustacean's claw or leg poking through. I've since learnt that birds can suffer from an oral fistula (there's an item about it in the latest RSPB magazine), and the pink object protruding from the gull's throat could in fact be its tongue. Then there are all those "glaucous" gulls on my blog which might well be vikings.....that will be a mammoth task. I think I'll need to be snowed-in for that!

// posted by Christine @ 5:34 AM 0 comments

Christine's walking & birds blog