Bird Flu Outbreak Continues

We are so fortunate to have, within a few minutes' drive of us, a long, sandy beach on which to stretch our legs. Even in summer we rarely encounter more than half-a-dozen people, most with their dogs, but these days there is a price to pay as we keep stumbling across....

....the carcasses of birds. At one time it was mainly geese, guillemots and gannets, these days bird flu's reach includes ducks, like this eider, and gulls, particularly herring gulls.

NatureScot's map shows that Golspie - located under the two red hexagons - seems to have been particularly badly hit, as we witness from our rather unscientific observations. The gull population has plummeted, the rafts of eider are gone, the sanderling we used to watch busying along the waveline are a happy memory, even the crows seem thin on the ground. 

When we do see bird, like these merganser, of which there were a dozen or so on Loch Fleet this morning, our enjoyment is marred by finding one of them dead amidst the seaweed.

Thank Goodness that, occasionally, our spirits are lifted, as when we saw this flock of a good hundred waders enjoying the sun on one of the gravel banks in the loch. Identifying them was a struggle as they all had their backs to us but I think they're ringed plovers.