Saturday, November 23, 2024
A walk round the village and campsite brought a handful of turnstones and an otter, which chomped its way through an eel at the edge of the waves.
Apparently this is a female - the pink patches being the result, I've learnt, of the male biting and holding onto the female's nose while mating. Hmm.
My car is ready to pick up, but we said we would leave it until Monday thanks to the warnings not to drive anywhere in Scotland today. It didn't actually snow in Ullapool - but there were (still are) high winds and rain. But of course, we've no idea what it's been like up on the Dirrie More. Yesterday, we drove to Inverness to shop - and the road conditions were very different on the high moors compared with at sea level. This is taken through the window on the trip out, between Lochs Droma and Glascarnoch, where the OS map for the area shows a spot height of 279m - the summit after the "long ascent".
Greger pointed out that the other side of the road didn't look as clear as our side; and a bit further on, at Black Bridge, a rescue vehicle was standing in the walkers' car park in front of a gritting truck. It looked as though the gritter had reversed into a small dip or ditch and needed a tow out! It was gone when we drove back, so presumably it continued its journey to Ullapool.
The day before that, a female blackcap was spotted at home and snapped through the kitchen window....
.....which was nice, as I haven't seen many blackcaps this year. The fieldfares (with at least one redwing) have discovered our little rowan tree and have been busy stripping it. If waxwings are on the way they'll have to hurry, or the berries will all be gone.
