WAXIES! Two waxwings were in gardens along Old Moss Road this afternoon, seen on a walk round the village. They flew off towards the west after a bit of aggro from chaffinches.
A little light rain was falling some of the time, and the visibility was poor; I must remember to get out earlier now - there's plenty of time for doing boring domestic chores when it's dark. An otter was swimming down the river to the loch.
When I got back home the seed feeder, which has just gone back up for the winter, was a madhouse of coal tits, blue tits, goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches, house sparrows, one great tit, and one robin. This morning, a female blackcap was in the birch sapling which has sprung up in the garden - and which might be allowed to become a tree. We haven't decided yet.
There was thick ice on my car's windscreen this morning as we set out to walk down to the ferry terminal. As promised by the forecast, the sun was shining from a blue sky - but also forecast were light winds, whereas now an irritating cold breeze had sprung up, while the surface of the sea was distinctly ruffled. Oh well, you can't have everything - and spirits were high as we set sail on the Isle of Lewis, despite no great expectations as to what we might see. The top deck gives airy views with fewer obstructions than you get on the Loch Seaforth - including this one, looking forward(ish) to the Minch beyond the Summer Isles.
There were only two sightings of note on the way out: First, a small pod of common dolphins.....
.....and then a sighting by Greger of something leaping from the water as we approached Stornoway. He said it was pale, so it could have been a Risso's dolphin. Unfortunately I missed it and could only grab a shot of the splash!
(Edited later): As we approached Stornoway I spotted something on the water that I thought might be a long-tailed duck - but it obstinately kept its back towards us! In all the excitement over what came next, I forgot about it when I wrote the blog, so here's a record shot of the drake long-tailed duck.
It's significant because it's another first for me from the ferry.
On the return journey we scanned the area of the splash madly, but could see nothing. A very strong wind was now blowing; this was quite exciting as the ship both rolled and pitched a little, but the movements combined with the wind and the vibrations of the engines made looking through bins difficult, never mind trying to use the camera!
There was suddenly quite a lot of bird activity, and I snapped off useless shots of c40 sooty shearwaters. About ten minutes later, I spotted a pale-form skua, alerted Greger, and started to photograph it. After a while I thought I could detect something I hadn't seen before on a skua - a long, thickish tail - and said with some excitement "I think it's a pomarine!" Greger, intently following the bird through his bins, agreed about the tail.
For the next five minutes we were accompanied by the skua powering along over the waves parallel with the ferry; I kept saying "It's a pom! I'm sure it's a pom!" while clicking off shot after shaky shot. Eventually the skua drew ahead of us and we lost it.
This wasn't just my first definite pomarine skua, it was also a thrilling five minutes that I'm glad Greger was on hand to share - he'd been about to go down for a coffee just before I spotted it! It's also the sixth "first-for-the-ferry" I've had this year, along with Risso's dolphins, basking shark, Brent geese, house sparrow, and the long-tailed duck of today. I feel that each new sighting helps justify the amount of money I've spent on pelagics to Stornoway since Covid - and I'm not exaggerating when I say that the "pom" alone was worth all of it.
On a day of low cloud, light winds, and a fairly calm sea, we set off on our latest pelagic to Stornoway and back. Visibility wasn't great on the way out and the mist gave a damp feel to the air - but it brightened up later. Nothing stupendous was spotted, but it was an enjoyable trip with plenty of common dolphins on both legs.
Porpoises were also much in evidence.
There seemed to be no Manx shearwaters now but we saw possibly 100 sooties. I clicked off loads of photos but they're all rubbish. I complained that this ferry now vibrates almost as much as the old one - although I did notice the difference (a bit too late) if I didn't lean my elbows on the rail! Greger naturally had the solution - electric ferries. Wouldn't that be nice! Not only a smooth, quiet ride for us - but also less noise and pollution for the ocean.
Just before we reached Stornoway I had a glimpse of a Minke whale as it surfaced (never to be seen again) while a small passerine flying over my head and landing high on the funnel structure turned out to be a house sparrow.
I had three sightings of skuas. One, lifting from the water and then disappearing into the murk, was clearly a bonxie - while this dark form bird is probably an Arctic skua.
Most things considered (eg small head, narrowish wings), I think this is also an Arctic.
Back in Ullapool, Greger diverted to Tesco for some shopping while I went home and then drove back to pick him up. He's had a bad heel for several weeks now - painful enough to make him limp. He has a vast pack of frozen peas with which he cools his heel several times a day - as advised by the NHS website. Anyway, he probably won't be going up any hills in the near future; but I think I must try, if only to get this blog back to its original subject - walking, with birds thrown in. There's been too much "lay-by birding" lately and it won't do!
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