Hardly a breath of wind this morning as we walked Littleferry beach, the heavy surf a memory of the strong easterlies of the last few days. It was great to be out in the bracing fresh air, and great, too, not to find any sign of the seal pup, but, oh dear!...
....avian flu is back with a vengeance in the Moray Firth, with dozens of seabirds washed up along the tideline. Most now are gulls, with the occasional guillemot - I'm surprised there are any of this species left to die - and a single pink-footed goose. Some birds....
....like the ever-cheery oystercatchers, seem unaffected by the disease.
The number of eider swimming off the mouth of Loch Fleet seems to be down compared to last year, and we wondered whether....
....the thousands of mussel shells scattered along the beach meant that these ducks are feeding well or whether there's a problem with the local shellfish.
By the time we returned to the car a weak but surprisingly warm sun was out, shining low across Loch Fleet, so we sat on a bench kindly provided by NatureScot and watched....
....the seabirds making the most of the mudflats exposed by low tide. It was difficult at a distance to distinguish all the species but oystercatchers, curlews, redshanks and widgeon were there, with their attendant, lurking crows and gulls.
Hardly a breath of wind this morning as we walked Littleferry beach, the heavy surf a memory of the strong easterlies of the last few days. It was great to be out in the bracing fresh air, and great, too, not to find any sign of the seal pup, but, oh dear!...
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