Last day at Clachtoll Beach…

The day has dawned disappointingly grey with odd splashes of rain on Bessie’s roof light.  So, what to do on this our final day here at one of our favourite campsites?  The schools have broken up in Scotland already – nearly a month earlier than in England – and there’s already been a significant influx of children.  I guess it’s to make full use of the long hours of daylight at this time of the year.  Sunset is well after 10.30pm up here and we’ve experienced some fine ones.

We paid a last visit to Inverkirkaig but it proved short of interesting birds – just a few Common Gulls, the usual Oystercatchers and a couple of Mallards.  Peter did spot one of the Curlews but the tide was right out and it was difficult to photograph.

I had noticed an extra-small road (no more than a path really) that led to a small harbour just down the coast so we followed that down and found a woman collecting something on the rocks.  Some sort of crustaceans I guess.  We liked the look of the perpendicular ladder up the  face of the cliff entrance to the harbour and could just imagine smugglers with lanterns climbing up at the dead of night…

The weather had not improved and so we put off our intended walk down to the beach at Clachtoll and over the hills.  We had wonderful photos of last year when the sand was pale ivory in the sun and didn’t want to spoil that picture.  Perhaps we could do it in the morning when the sun was due to return?

We hit on a return visit to the Stoer peninsular instead.  There are scattered communities, including a small primary school and we took one of the small roads towards the coastline on the eastern side, where there is a natural harbour at Culkein.  It was deserted and we parked up alongside the rocks.  At first there seemed nothing much to see and it was difficult spotting anything amongst the grey rocks but as our eyes became adjusted we spotted various small birds scurrying about in the seaweed and grey mud.  Interestingly, there were a lot of juveniles amongst them.

2 Dunlins (difficult to see in the mud)

One of the Dunlins walking the plank!

See the difference in size between the Dunlin in the background with the Common Gull!

Juvenile Sandpiper

Same bird finding lots of tidbits in the mud

Juvenile Pied Wagtail

Same bird jumping for joy one second later!

Juvenile Rock Pipit

Same bird begging for food!

Juvenile Wheatear

Same bird showing off his beautiful tail feathers

Ringed Plover with two of her babies in the background

One of the juvenile Ringed Plovers

As we left the harbour there was a brightness in the sky and these wildflowers were a colourful sight amongst the grey rocks.  The yellow flowers are Marsh Marigolds but have yet to identify the orange ones.  It’s an unusual colour and looks to have double flower heads.

The early evening sunlight played on the gentle hills on the road towards the Stoer Lighthouse…

 

Back at the campsite we were treated to our final sunset at Clachtoll Beach – not as dramatic as on previous nights but just as atmospheric.