Haar, Haar

15/07/10

Yesterday was very wet, very windy and very cold. I wondered what these conditions might have brought in, so today I went to Girdleness for a bit of sea watching. I could barely see the sea most of the time. But eventually, the haar rolled back and the drizzle dried up for a spell, and then I could see about half way to the horizon. And the top of the lighthouse again. The usual raft of moulting eiders was there, the terns were ferrying fish to eager young mouths, and long lines of gleaming Gannets passed like ghosts in the murk. Then I began to pick up the occasional little group of shearwaters, dark arrows on dark water, flashing white as they rolled across the wave tops. I tried hard to make them into Sooty Shearwaters, but sadly, they all remained only Manx Shearwaters. A line of 8 Common Scoters flew north, probably heading to Blackdog to join the flock there. Twice, a Great Skua flew lazily past, quite close in so that I had really good views. A pod of 5 dolphins suddenly appeared, cavorting about in the tidal stream just off the foghorn. But all the time, I was wishing I could see further out, where I’m sure there would have been all kinds of goodies going past.

Funnily enough, it was quite clear round at the harbour, so I had a quick look there. There were 18 Goosanders idling the time away, and sundry gulls were having a good wash in the fresher water of the River Dee. I decided to give the teatime traffic a miss, so headed home via Cove. The car park by the harbour looked promising for a sea watching point, but there was little of note on show. So I had a look at Rigifa Pool, but after yesterday’s rain, it had filled up leaving no muddy margin, and very few birds. The rain returned, heavier than ever, as I headed back up Deeside.