Friday, January 24, 2025
There were some savage gusts around 5 and 6 pm this morning, but the wind died down during the day leaving just dreary wet weather to contend with. Earlier this week we drove south down the coast. Two little grebes were seen - the first from Dundonell on Little Loch Broom, and then this one in Aultbea.
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Greger pointed out two Slavonian grebes....
.....and I spotted 20+ black-throated divers way over by Gruinard Island.
A few great northern divers were also present - but we looked in vain for common scoter, long-tailed duck, and white-tailed eagle.
There's a spectacled eider in the Netherlands - the furthest south one has been seen in the Western Palearctic, as far as I can make out. But how do they know it's genuinely wild? I came upon a website called waterfowl.org.uk which suggests that the species is not easy to keep in a collection, but added that some collectors do breed them successfully. Exciting though, to think that it is wild and belongs in icy cold places - even colder than Scotland! :o)
In all the madness going on in the US, a glimmer of light and hope and sanity came when a woman who took part in the Capitol riots turned down
// posted by Christine @ 8:19 AM 
