A Tragedy

The outside world is beginning to become aware of a small tragedy being played out on the shores of Loch Fleet and along the sandy beaches to north and south of it where we have been witnesses to the loss of scores of birds - gulls, guillemots, eider, shelduck and, in particular, geese - all of which have been either dead or....

....dying of bird 'flu. The sudden interest has been sparked by an ornithologist who, in a walk around the shores of Loch Fleet the other day, counted no less than 160 dead and dying birds - link to BBC article here - and reported his find to NatureScot and Highland Council. This follows a recent relaxing of rules requiring farmers to keep their poultry indoors on the grounds that avian 'flu tends to abate with the coming of spring - except this year it hasn't.

Fortunately the illness doesn't seem to be affecting the two species of bird which nest along local shores, ringed plover, above, and oystercatchers. This morning we counted four pairs of ringed plovers along the beach below Dunrobin castle and....

....about the same number of oystercatcher pairs. We also identified one oystercatcher nest site with a bird sitting, though it is in the most exposed position, only a few yards off the coast path and the dogs that come along it, and watched by several crows and seagulls.

The highlight of our walk, however, was spotting two roe deer which had come down from the forestry to feed in the field of sprouting oats.