Nigel's Nature

 A calm day at last gave reasonable viewing conditions here. Winds with an easterly component had persisted for more than a week, producing choppy water across the loch and a bitter chill. Today the tide was high mid-afternoon, so my focus was on waterfowl and seabirds rather than waders. Goldeneye were notable off Balyett/Innermessan, in the south-east corner, with a minimum estimate of 30. Other duck included the usual suspects of Wigeon, Scaup, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Scoter and Eider. Numbers of the former two species have dwindled recently from several hundred earlier in the year. A loose group of seven Red-throated Divers   were quite distant, but their pale necks stood out in the overcast light. Amongst them, a single Great Northern revealed itself by the typical horizontal cast of its heavy bill, compared to the more slender appendage of its congener held at an upward tilt. A few Slavonian Grebe were about, still in winter plumage, unlike the Great Crested who...

 Despite tricky conditions, I finally caught up with some of the Greenland White-fronted Geese that winter around the airfield, after several failed attempts in recent weeks. It was mercifully dry with sunny spells but a very strong and bitterly cold south-easterly wind made things decidedly uncomfortable outside the car. My afternoon visit began as usual at the flooded fields north-east of the runways. A pair of Shelduck and a small flock of Golden Plover were present. Nearby I found a flock of Pink-footed Geese, the first of many. These latter birds were very flighty, disturbed no doubt by all the muck-spreading that was going on. Tractors pulling trailers of slurry buzzed about constantly as they spread their toxic sludge over the fields. At times the air was full of skeins making their distinctive ang-ank calls. A rough estimate came to 5,000, but no sign of White-fronts among them. Local experts say the two species tend not to flock together, in this area at least. I checked ...