Thursday, August 20, 2026
Quite a lot of skua activity was seen from the ferry on Monday. Flocks of kittiwakes were attracting the attentions of Arctic skuas, but two of the skuas were engaged in some quarrel of their own. Eventually they both settled on the water, and one seemed to give up and fly off; but seconds later it returned - presumably to have another go!
The ferry sped onwards as ferries do, and we lost them. (I'm assuming they were both Arctics. I've now seen my first glorious pomarine skua - but I was lucky in that it had its "spoon". Without that aid to ID I might well be flummoxed!)
A solitary Manx shearwater was glimpsed and a lone sooty was snapped sitting on the water with auks and kittiwakes - unnoticed until I uploaded the picture. We also had several very brief glimpses of Minke whales.
Yesterday, two common terns, and a bonxie paying a fleeting visit to the fish farm, were at Ardmair.
Today, the common terns were still there, mostly on the far side of Loch Kanaird; and ten redshanks were dozing on a rock at the very end of the spit. At least five rock pipits were zipping about foraging in the seaweed - and then a furious row from the gulls made me look up - to see a white-tailed eagle being attacked by a great black-backed gull.
A second eagle then sailed into view, and as I watched them interact (with the second one clearly looking up at the first) I was surprised to see that this was an immature bird.
Back at home I got a second helping! I was standing in the garden enjoying a spell of sunshine when the herring gulls sounded the alarm. An eagle flew lazily over towards the loch followed by a second individual, both of them circling for a while before flying on, when I lost them behind the bungalow.
I failed to get a photo of the first eagle, or even see it well - but as far as the one above is concerned, I can't match it with either of the eagles I saw at Ardmair.
// posted by Christine @ 9:35 AM 
