March 19th

It was a stunning day today. Brilliantly sunny and clear, the sea flat calm and visibility all the way to the central Highlands. I cut across the fields to Kenly Burn and walked along the shore hoping for an otter. On a day like today nothing can move on the sea without being seen. There were the usual crowd of mallards and bathing gulls at the burn mouth, but with my first lesser black-backed gull of the year and a teal dabbling in the rock pools. Teal are another freshwater duck that we see mostly on the sea: they breed on the little loch – or big pond – two hundred meters to the north (my usual water rail site with its little fringe of reeds, but not for the last couple of years).

Male teal at Kenly Burn mouth today: they are handsome ducks close up, but blend in well with the rocky shore