Over the sea to Skye...

Had a few day’s holiday, from the relentless grind of the nomadic life, on the Moray Firth. My birthday treat (thank you, Helen… and Michael) was having a morning’s tour of good bird sites, which gave us views of capercaille, crested tit, black throated diver and crossbill (the first three I’d never seen before, their range being limited to the Highlands; crossbills I hadn’t seen for, gulp, fifty years). I drove across the Skye bridge this afternoon: another first. The last time I was on Skye, you had no choice but to take the ferry. Drove to Portree in driving rain, and here I am, drying out…

The crested tit we saw (pic by Michael Crutch)...