Thursday, February 13, 2025
Once again, a clear night-sky resulted in a sharp morning frost, followed by a day of unbroken sunshine. It was bitterly cold. Greger suggested a trip out to Achnahaird - our first visit there this year - and on our drive round the area we flushed a flock of twite. They soon landed again and proceeded to forage on the sheep-grazed turf beneath the viewpoint - a site often favoured by twite.
They landed so close to the car that I had to zoom out - and even then I failed to get sharp pictures. They were constantly on the move, while grass in my experience always presents a muddled background. Plus, I'm just not a very good photographer!
Another picture shows twenty-two individuals, but there were probably at least thirty altogether. They were a lovely surprise, giving me one of two new birds for the year - the other being a kestrel, hunting over the beach at Badentarbat.
We spent the last two days of January in Aberdeen, where Greger needed to consult one of the "Genius Bar" in the Apple Store about the Apple watch I bought him for his 70th birthday, which had stopped linking with his smartphone - or something. We took a short walk at Nigg Bay, where we saw bottlenose dolphins (frequent visitors, apparently) and we also revisited the splendid esplanade to the north of the city, where you can park at the side of the very wide road for nothing. From here we saw a raft of common scoter and several long-tailed ducks. (These, however, were always distant, and it was satisfying a week later to spot a local and slightly closer common scoter at Ardmair - February 7th). Meanwhile, one of the geniuses had updated the watch and all was well. Before setting off for home, we drove to the charging area, plugged the car in, and walked over to Ikea - where we stocked up on some cakes to take home and also had a very nice bowl each of tomato and basil soup, including roll and butter - the damage being just over £5 for the two.
