With the weather pendulum swinging towards 'fine' again, we took a gentle Sunday stroll at Sanna. The recent spring tides have swept the beaches clean and moved the sand around so that areas that were rocky in mid-winter are now largely covered.
We noticed how many more waders were sitting on the rocks along the shore compared to the last time we came, when Sanna was still in winer's grip. Most were small birds, like the ringed plover in this picture, but there were also the usual oystercatchers, now in mating pairs.
However we spent much of the time wandering through the marram grass of the machair that lies between the beach and the houses, where we found the first of Sanna's spring flowers....
....this coltsfoot, with its first flower opening.
But what drew us into the
machair was the song of the skylarks. I heard the first skylark of the year on Thursday, above
Torr Solais at the back of Kilchoan Community Centre, but Sanna is bubbling with them and, with the sky clearing and the first watery sun coming out, their song was a joy to hear.
Photographing a skylark in mid-flight is difficult enough, but one stayed on the ground just long enough to have his picture taken, though he is wonderfully camouflaged against the grass.
The biggest surprise was kept to last, just as we were walking back to the car. A lapwing rose from the grass in front of us and flew away, zig-zagging into the wind. Lapwings aren't common here at any time, and they migrate south for the winter, so this one has arrived back exceptionally early.
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