Six members met up with leader, Dean MacAskill, at Dornoch Airfield carpark at 10a.m., later joined by Ross, a young member, with parents. It was grey, mild and surprisingly dry - most of us had left Inverness in misty drizzle and low cloud. High tides and rains had flooded large patches of the area beyond the airfield so we picked our way across keeping our eyes open for a possible Short-eared Owl which sadly was elusive. Our spirits lifted to hear several singing Skylarks overhead. A Jack Snipe was flushed – quickly up and equally quickly down – seen by some. At the far end of the marsh area, a small flock of birds took flight and landed amongst seedy vegetation. Very hard to spot, but finally located creeping along the ground picking at the seeds – mostly Twites with a few Linnets. At the western shore, looking up the firth towards the Dornoch bridge, we scoped the sea - many Wigeons, Teals, Shelducks and a few Pintails. The tide was rising, pushing up the numerous waders including Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlews, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Knots, a single Sanderling, Dunlins, and most especially Grey Plovers. One of our party hadn’t seen this species before and managed to have good views and get the photo. The plovers were giving their plaintive call. We trudged round the sand – seeing Eiders, Slavonian Grebes, Long-tailed Ducks and Red-breasted Mergansers. On the east side of the point, a good number of Sanderlings were busily rushing about feeding and dodging the incoming tide. The sea was fairly calm which aided our search through the numerous scoters – mainly Commons with an odd Velvet, and finally the Surf Scoter pair. We all had good views but the Black Scoter eluded us, both from the shore, and later from the elevated carpark. It would have been helpful if the sun was shining to enhance the yellow bill!!
Top to bottom: Grey Plovers, Linnets and Twites, Common Scoters (all Philip Wilson)
On then to Embo where the very high tide was crashing against the rocks and the Purple Sandpipers had found a ledge on the crumbling pier to shelter with Turnstones. On then to the Mound – seeing a few Greylag Geese on the way. The rains were now on and the water was very high with little to see, so we called it a day and felt very lucky to have had a good, mostly dry, outing with an excellent leader.
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