Christine's walking & birds blog

Whether it was a haar or low cloud hanging over the hills and the village, we felt certain it would burn off, and set off on our latest pelagic with optimism. Unfortunately, a good start bird-wise was slightly marred by a small accident. Scanning the water near Priest Island, I got onto a petrel some distance ahead, alerted Greger, and moved round towards the lifeboat, desperately clicking into the scene without zooming as I'd already lost the bird. We laughed at the result later - I did actually get the petrel, in the bottom left of the picture.

The remains of the day. 

// posted by Christine @ 2:16 PM 0 comments

We drove south down the coast in cool, showery weather. I spotted what looked like a buzzard far out over the sheep fields and then realised it was following a hen harrier.

I picked up the raptors again, flying low over the distant beach - the buzzard in hot pursuit of the harrier. The harrier was lost to view but the buzzard flew back up the fields and landed on a post - clearly, with something under one foot - before flying off again and vanishing. Did the buzzard pinch the harrier's prey? Was it even a buzzard? Meanwhile, two small birds dashed about just above me hawking insects - and I can say with confidence that these were sand martins! Also seen - distant curlews and a lapwing, several pied wagtails, four red-throated divers found by Greger, and a very distant raptor which the camera helped prove was a golden eagle.

// posted by Christine @ 2:40 PM 0 comments

The sky was blue and the sun was shining this morning, so despite the wind we walked down to Shore Street. There were quite a few other people around, enjoying the blustery conditions. It's difficult to convey strong wind in a still photo unless there are gigantic waves, but the outer pontoon seems to be giving the marina some protection, although the boats closest to us were rocking madly.

Now, back home, it's raining as well as blowing, so nothing will entice me out again. Yesterday, I drove up to the Braes, but I'd only just left the car when I heard a familiar high call and looked up to see two peregrine falcons. I think this is a juvenile, as the breast is quite dark and streaked....

.....while this, with a paler, barred breast, is an adult.

Terrible pics, but these are the first peregrines I've seen for a long time. I then walked out to the viewpoint (the rocky outcrop in the trees to the left of the picture) and immediately spotted some dolphins.

// posted by Christine @ 7:54 AM 0 comments

I drove up to the Braes for another dragonfly hunt - and ended up watching dolphins! Before going through the gate into the plantations, I walked out to a rocky outcrop from which you have great views over Ullapool and along Loch Broom. Seeing some circles of white water below, I scanned with the bins and realised that quite a sizeable pod of common dolphins was moving rapidly down the loch.

When I noticed that some dolphins were passing quite close to the camp-site point, I wished I was down there on the rocks!    

Eventually the dolphins continued to make their way towards the sea and I abandoned the idea of the dragonfly hunt and drove down to West Terrace, from where I could just see them still leaping and splashing out towards the Summer Isles.

// posted by Christine @ 2:23 PM 0 comments

The ferry from Ullapool this morning was very full, but it was still possible to nip from side to side of the main seating deck in search of goodies - you just had to be careful not to trip over any dogs! Sightings included a probable Arctic tern, a handful of common dolphins, a distant whale, and a single sooty shearwater.

It would have been nice to have seen a bit more of the shark - but I'm not complaining!

// posted by Christine @ 3:01 PM 0 comments