Out in the cold
The first week or so of December 2023 was pretty cold in Assynt. Daytime temperatures struggled to get above freezing and it was regularly -5°C or below overnight. As a result many of our lochs were completely frozen.
Not good conditions for water birds, but useful if you want to see these birds. This weather forces birds to congregate in, or near, areas of open water, and so you can often get several species close together. Of course you must be very careful not to disturb them. Taking flight uses a lot of energy, energy that the birds need to help get them through periods of freezing temperatures. So please enjoy them from a distance and through binoculars, if possible.
The Mallard, Teal and Whooper Swans in this photo were resting on a mainly frozen Loch an Aigeil on Tuesday 5th December. They are standing on ice so you might ask, don’t they get cold feet? Here’s a link to a short article on our website that should help answer that question.
David Haines