Christine's walking & birds blog

.....until this flew over, when it disappeared!

Oh well. Other waders also took to the air, but after a zoom round, these landed pretty much where they'd been feeding before. There were knot, turnstone, sanderling, ringed plover, and a handful of dunlin.

It seemed that the machair was the place to be, because as I plodded across the wet sand towards the sea I saw nothing. Reaching the low cliffs I paused at the top to look back across the great expanse of sand uncovered by the falling tide.....

.....and noticed, through the bins, that three waders had landed to the right of the people walking at the water's edge. They were clearly godwits, and given the extent of the red underparts I think they have to be bar-tailed godwits. I was too tired to go back (still not completely recovered from that blasted virus), and this hugely cropped photo will have to do.

Returning to Ullapool, I parked on West Terrace and looked out over the loch. I was watching dolphins leaping near the far shore when all the gulls on the golf-course spit went up with shrieks of protest - and there, directly above me, were two adult white-tailed eagles.

I enjoyed my day - as did Greger. He went to Inverness to do some shopping, but the important thing for him is having a long drive alone during which he can listen to his latest Spanish audiobook. He's having a rest from crime and has turned to horror - El Silencio de los Corderos!