Sinclairs Bay

A very enjoyable day today spent at Sinclair's Bay, just north of Wick. I started off at Keiss beach which is just wonderful, with miles of beach which was more or less devoid of people, or at least it was while I was there first thing this morning. A really nice selection of waders on the beach including sanderling, bar-tailed godwit, grey plover, dunlin, ringed plover and most surprising of all, a juvenile ruff.

Small groups of swallows were heading south west for the duration on my visit and in total probably numbered a few hundred, whilst on the sea there were three species of diver, two each of red-throated and black-throated and three great northerns. A pale phase arctic skua harried the terns on the beach.

Later in the day I parked at Ackergill and walked along the coast to Noss Head lighthouse via the ruined Castle Sinclair.

Arctic skua with Noss Head in the background.

Sanderling.

Ringed plover.

This juvenile ruff gave me a bit of a shock at first!

Black-throated divers.

Great northern diver.

Osprey with a fish at Loch of Wester.

Grass of Parnassus.

One of many castles / stately homes in the area. This one is at Ackergill.

Grey seals.

Noss Head lighthouse.

Castle Sinclair, abandoned in about 1680.

Prior to today, my last visit to Sinclairs Bay was in 1985 between Christmas and New Year. One of the highlights of that trip was this amazing flock of around 1500 snow bunting, easily the largest I have ever seen.