December 18th

We had the haar in today. A cold winter fog hugging the coast and barely clearing by the afternoon. There is high pressure sitting on top of us, and instead of the bright sunny day that it will have been inland, it was dreich. A walk out of Crail across the fields to West Braes and back along the shore was a low visibility affair. Yellowhammers and skylarks flying up out of the stubble, but straight back down again a few meters away, completely invisible again. Some golden plovers flying over unseen, only their mournful whistles giving them away. Stonechats chacking along the coastal path, barely discernible on the dead cow parsley stems. There was a female kestrel perched on one of the clifftop trees at Harbour Beach, looking damp and miserable. I doubt it could hunt by hovering. Kestrels are good perch hunters when they need too, but even so it will have been a day in the voles’ favour.

The female kestrel at Harbour Beach making do in the fog – just a few meters away but still disappearing into the gloom