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...

 My late afternoon visit began about an hour past low tide and the expanse of exposed mud in the south-east corner of the loch was busy with feeding birds. But they would have to wait, for even as I pulled into the parking area by the Ryan Bay Holiday Park my eager eyes had distinguished a small group of Whooper Swans in amongst the Mutes. There were just four of them, a pair with one youngster and another adult. Perhaps newly arrived from Iceland, they seemed keen to rest with head tucked under a wing rather than dipping for weed as their plentiful resident cousins were doing. A little later, the single adult perked up a bit, gave a couple of whooping calls and began to feed. It was an excellent start to what proved to be a very productive hour before I had to get to the supermarket. Surrounding hills were lost to view in the foggy conditions but visibility across the loch was surprisingly good. In fact, the flat light seemed somehow to enhance the performance of my decidedly av...