Well that was to-day's plans out of the window. Not the heavy downpour we had last night but steady drizzle with poor visibility. The idea was to have a last chance for Crested Tit and missed passerines, not much chance of that. We tried Broomhill Bridge first, without Dipper or Sand Martins around their colony. Dulnain Bridge had a Dipper flying upstream and out of sight.
It was up to Pam what to do as she is the sole driver these days and we drive to Ardnamurchan to-morrow. Black Isle was the decision - it's usually drier at the coast and the forecast promised a dry spell around mid-day.
Chanonry Point was birdless, apart from five Common Scoters flying towards Kessock. We'd seen Velvet this year but not common.
It did stop raining for about half an hour at Udale Bay. We saw 200+ Pink-footed Geese on the shore. Next minute they were gone and neither of us saw them leave. A few Wigeon, a large flock of Oystercatchers, two Ringed Plovers and no other expected waders.
In this remote sheltered harbour guarded by two precipitous headlands, dozens of oil rigs are sitting idle, some for more than a decade, quietly waiting for offshore oil drilling to become profitable again. It's always worth scanning the area for seabirds. I counted over 40 Scaup loafing round the rigs, occasionally formation diving. There were a few Eider amongst them.
No point in hanging around any longer, we returned to Aviemore to fill up with fuel and to buy our evening meal from M and S.
The last call was the A9 side of the township, behind all the development of hotels and leisure buildings. An unusual sight these days of horrible viruses, an adult rabbit and one young grazed peacefully on the manicured grass.
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