Sunday, August 18, 2024

The great black-backed gull was feeding on what looked like a small spotted cat shark (lesser spotted dogfish) on the beach at Poolewe.



At least twelve common terns were fishing close in to the shore on this very windy day. My poor shot of a juvenile common tern will remind me of two ID features - the dark leading edge of the wing (also called a carpal bar, I think) and the dark line on the secondaries.   


Yesterday: Four knot were among dunlins on the River Raa at Achnahaird, seen distantly from the lay-by.


At least four turnstones (two adults) were also present.


A scatter of sanderlings included both adult and juvenile birds - and there was a single redshank. We've just come back from our first visit to the Ythan Estuary on the east coast, near Aberdeen. We enjoyed exploring this vast site, but the bird interest lay mostly in large flocks of redshanks and lapwings, with a few greenshanks - but Sandwich terns are always nice to see and I got an unexpected first for the year in a whitethroat. Today, despite a ferocious wind being forecast, the longing to see some migrants drew me out to Coigach, where these waders made a good start to my "autumn migration".

// posted by Christine @ 11:30 AM
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