This week we've been staying in a static caravan on a croft at Big Sands and today we
left the car behind and walked it into Gairloch, a round walk of about 9
miles. Most of the best birding was within a mile or so of the caravan, with
family parties of common terns, gulls and gannets all seen from or on the
beach overlooking Caolas Beg, the sound between the mainland and Longa
island. There were also a few sanderling, dunlin and ringed plover here.
Bonxies are always around Longa Island, I'm not certain if they breed here but
it seems very likely.
White-tailed eagles seem to like the area around our caravan, three of the
five sightings I've had so far have been from the front room of the caravan,
and even on our walk today I could see an adult eagle flying directly over the
van.
At sunrise and sunset I resume my watch over the sea from Peterburn, but at
the moment the whale watching part of the holiday seems to be petering out.
Despite some of the best weather I've ever had in this part of Scotland, I've
still managed to have two out my three booked whale watching trips cancelled
due to alleged strong winds. If there are strong winds I've not noticed them,
and the forecast for tomorrow is 5-9mph at the time that the cruise should be
going, but I'm sure that Hebridean Whale Watching cruises will have more
accurate information than me about the state of the Minch.
Peterburn, which just a few days ago was outstanding, now barely produces a
single dolphin and I don't think that it's just me being unobservant. Whereas
two days ago I could scan the sea with my binoculars and see several sea bird
feeding frenzies, all good indicators that there were whales present, today I
could only find one frenzy, and despite watching this for several minutes,
nothing emerged. I suspect that the food supply of the birds and
cetaceans has moved out of this area for the time being. Hopefully they will
return to give me one final hurrah before we leave.
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