Our final day was to be a trip
to the west coast but we were going to call at Dingwell first to give the
Ring-billed Gull another shot. When we
arrived at the small lake there was just a single Herring Gull perched on a
street light but as Ian put some bread birds appeared rather rapidly. Roger thought he might have seen the
Ring-billed in fight but all I could see were Herring Gulls but suddenly the
Ring-billed was right in front of Ian and the closest bird. It would appear that it had learned that if
it were to get any bread it needed to get closer to the provider or lose out to
the larger and more aggressive Herring Gulls.
This strategy proved quite successful as it did get bread when it was
thrown on most occasions. With the sun
shining at this time photo opportunities were good and I took numerous shots.
Adult winter Herring Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
Adult winter Ring-billed Gull
First-winter Herring Gull
Buzzard being harassed by a
Carrion Crow
As we moved west the weather
gradually deteriorated becoming overcast with several snow and sleet
showers. When we reached Dundonnell it
was dry but overcast and we parked alongside Little Loch Broom. I counted thirty-four Hooded Crows feeding at
the head of the loch, along with a couple of Oystercatchers but there was very
little else. Looking west along the loch
the next shower could be seen approaching and we quickly back in to the vehicle
before the squall arrived. We continued
along the loch seeing four Red-breasted Mergansers in a sheltered bay and six
Rock Doves before reaching Gruinard Bay.
Parking in a pull in overlooking Gruinard Island we found a Great
Northern Diver and circa eighty Barnacle Geese feeding in a field to the
north. The flock of Barnacles were then
seen in flight and Roger cried bird of prey and a juvenile White-tailed Eagle
passed almost directly over us but had gone before I could get the camera on
it.
Rock Doves
We moved south along the bay
stopping at the top of a steep incline to observe a bay below. I found at least four Common Seals on the far
side of the bay and Ian picked up a Buzzard mobbing a Golden Eagle. The eagle was an adult and initially went
further away before coming back and disappearing over a ridge. A few minutes later Ian picked up another
bird and initially suspected that it would be the Golden Eagle but suggested
that it might be a White-tailed Eagle.
As it got closer we could see that it was indeed a immature White-tailed
Eagle before it disappeared over the ridge just like the Goldie. Ian suggested that it might be visible
further along the road and we got in a sped off down the road only for David,
who was in the back cried, “It’s right above us”. The bus stopped and we all got out seeing the
bird as it passed right overhead and I was able to get some photos in what were
pretty awful conditions. The general
consensus was that it was the same bird as the one seen earlier that had worked
its way down the coast.
Immature White-tailed Eagle
Immature White-tailed Eagle
Immature White-tailed Eagle
Immature White-tailed Eagle
Immature White-tailed Eagle
Immature White-tailed Eagle
Immature White-tailed Eagle
We continued round the coast
and dropped back down to view the sea from Laide. We found another couple of Great Northern
Divers, two Kittiwakes and a Black Guillemot and Roger had two Razorbills,
which we were unable to locate again before the next squall arrived.
We continued going south to
Aultbea where we had lunch whilst overlook the small bay. There were four Red-breasted Mergansers and a
Slavonian Grebe in the harbour, a Hooded Crow provided a nice photo opportunity
and an adult White-tailed Eagle was observed beyond the bay. After lunch we continued out towards Mellon
Charles seeing a nice party of fourteen Ringed Plovers, eight Redshank and four
Turnstones feeding on a grassy field and another Great Northern Diver at our
furthest point. With little else we made
our way back to Aulbea before heading south to Gairloch seeing two Red-breasted
Mergansers at Poolewe and four Eider and yet another Great Northern Diver at
Gairloch. We made a final stop just
south of Gairloch were we found a Black-throated Diver and Black Guillemot but
were encouraged to move on as the next squall arrived. With the weather closing in we called it a
day and headed off back to Nethy Bridge.
Pair of Red-breasted Merganser
Slavonian Grebe
Hooded Crow
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