Monday, October 26, 2026


To Inverness today - resulting in both pain and pleasure. I enjoyed the drive from darkness into light across moorland and past mountains sprinkled with snow. Greger caught me up at the traffic lights by Loch Garve (he always accompanies me now that my car is so dodgy, so he can give me a lift home!) Sure enough, just as we finished lunch in Girvans the message came through that the car had failed its MOT and would cost nearly £2,000 to put right. I'd sort of expected it, but still - "Oh dear". The car has been left with them for a few weeks, and I'm still in turmoil as to whether I've done the right thing - or whether it would have been wiser to give up, and send it to the graveyard for knackered cars. :o(

Before we went to Girvans, Greger suggested a trip out to Alturlie. The tide was in, rain threatened, and altogether it didn't look promising. I got out and saw a redshank along the narrow strip of stony beach, standing against the water. That's rather a long slender bill, I thought. The wader took off and flew further along the shore; and a lovely call that I haven't heard for years - a clear, rising "chuvit!" - told me even before I noticed the lack of conspicuous white wing bars that this was a spotted redshank.  




I had great difficulty in holding the camera still, thanks to both excitement and being blooming cold. A car drove slowly past and stopped just above the redshank for a while before driving on; so I think it might have been reported. Hope so. Meanwhile it was a lovely surprise, and I was lucky to get a few pics before the rain started. I returned to the car and, while Greger had a short nap, I scanned the water - and there, far out among the wigeon, a Slavonian grebe was diving.

On the drive home, somewhere near the Rogie Falls, a bird flew across the road and disappeared into the trees; it looked very much like a jay, but I couldn't be sure. 

// posted by Christine @ 9:49 AM
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