February 21, 2005
Meanwhile, back in the real world...
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - look for February 14th entry)
I'd be a liar if I said that I wasn't secretly hoping to bump into something good this weekend, and particularly something of a gyrish persuasion! Walked around the golf course yesterday in fine, blustery northerlies. Yell, Fetlar and Mainland were all obscured by cloud and snow showers, just leaving us and the Skerries under clear sunshine. If I was a wind-driven gyr fresh off the sea and looking for somewhere to land, I'd have gone for the biggest landmass on show.
So I spent my whole walk a bundle of reactionary nerves, flinching every time something even vaguely white flew anywhere below the horizon. Needless to say, a lot of distant Fulmars shearing low over the cliffs got a lot more attention than they otherwise might have done! And needless to say I didn't find my own gyr. Lots of Oystercatchers now up on the island, some down in the meadows at the southwest end, but a few around the shore of the north end too. No Purple Sands surprisingly, but plenty of Fulmars starting to loaf in pairs on the cliff ledges.
It wasn't all gloom and doom, as I managed a record party of Whooper Swan on east loch - 7 birds, 5 adults and 2 imms. Mindful of the Whistling/Trumpeting nonsense going on south I gave them more than my usual cursory glance, but am pleased to report these were genuine birds and not wire-hoppers for the gullible and needy to try and legitimise onto their lists!
Had stunning views of 3 Otters on Saturday, an adult and two of last years cubs, as they fished just offshore. The cubs tried to emulate the adults fishing technique, porpoising over the kelp beds, but with little success - the adult caught several fish, climbing out onto the rocks each time to eat her catch. More often than not the cubs swarmed out of the water and pestered her until she relinquished her meal to them, and dutifully returned to the kelp to try again. She did eventually manage to wolf down something herself. Of course, as soon as I turned on the camera for those definitive Otter-shots, the message "Battery exhausted" flashed up on the screen... When will I learn?! Must get a spare battery for the camera.
Anyway, battery charged this morning, and into town at lunchtime to go to the opticians - my eyesight's clearly not completely shot, as I stumbled across a couple of white-winged gulls on the harbour water alongside the carpark; a grotty 1st winter and an altogether more spruce adult Iceland.
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Come back soon!
Posted by Stercorarius at February 21, 2005 09:13 AM