Christine's walking & birds blog

As it was mid-afternoon before I got out, Greger kindly dropped me at West Terrace, and I started my walk with a trudge across trampled snow to the spit. There I had the nice surprise of a male goldeneye on the river.

I couldn't see any purple sandpipers from the camp-site, but oystercatchers, ringed plovers, turnstones, and two curlews were present. A few days ago, two stonechats were here; but I couldn't spot them today.

Yesterday: The lay-by at the dam looked a bit too snowy so we carried on to Silverbridge.  It was beautiful - looked more Christmassy than Christmas did as we negotiated the river paths between two old bridges.

 
No crossbills or crested tits were seen, but a goldcrest was a first for the year; and as we drove away, a male goosander went flying upstream high above the river. It was very cold. On the way home we pulled into a lay-by above Loch Glascarnoch to scan for grouse, and the car showed a temperature of -9℃.