Saturday 13 August

Just returned after a two week break hillwalking and birdwatching in Scotland. 14 hills, 11 new and not many birds. It was surprisingly quiet on the bird front, most of the hills had Ptarmigan a couple had Ring Ouzel and I had a fine male Snow Bunting at the top of Carn Toul in the Cairngorms. But that was about it. A few Divers on a couple of lochs and around 30 Little Gulls on the beach at Arbroath.

Which brings me to Shustoke where there was a Little Gull present (M Inskip) I bumped into Bobby D here and he kindly provided the attached photograph. Apart from that there is a build up of gulls and around 30 Little Grebe with at least one pair having bred successfully. One pair of Gt Crested have young and another pair are attempting again. There was a single Common Sandpiper, plus the shore is looking really good for waders. I am back now so hopefully I can start getting into the birding again.

Little Gull, Bob Duckhouse