Tuesday, May 14, 2024
It could be a good day for a visit to Achnahaird, I thought, as rain during the night might have brought some waders in. Making my way past the dunes I could see lots of scurrying dots on the machair ahead, and judged them to be almost all dunlin and ringed plover. But a paler bird with no black belly-patch caught my eye, and I began to wonder if it was a curlew sandpiper. A second bird joined it and they fed together ravenously, and sometimes in a rather ungainly fashion - presumably because of their long legs.
A stoat was seen near the car park, and a twite was singing there from the fence.....
.....while an osprey was seen over moorland, possibly catching insects.
A distant wader standing on the edge of a lagoon on the beach and then flying to the edge of the waves and then disappearing posed a problem. I had no idea of the size of the bird, but thought it could be a little stint (or is the bill too large?) or a sanderling (bit too slender for a knot). Little stint often seem to be fellow travellers with curlew sandpiper, I think. More work needed!
Two days ago I snapped a tree pipit singing up the quarry road.
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I've also been on my first pelagic of the year. I didn't expect much and I didn't see much - although I was quite content with lots of puffins, several kittiwakes, and a distant white-tailed eagle.
// posted by Christine @ 8:14 AM 
