Dippers

A beautiful calm morning with no wind at all. Chilly at 2 degrees but with the sun shining and blue skies it was lovely. I managed a few hours gardening with breaks inbetween to sit and listen to the bird song. The visits from birds is increasing again, lots of goldfinch,chaffinch and the return of the Siskin.A tiny wren was busy displaying in the cherry tree that is almost in blossom.Robins chased each other around the garden and the bluetits were exploring the nest boxes, Spring is in the air.
Mike had a meeting in Rosemarkie so he dropped me at the Fairy Glen and I had a great hour there hoping to see the dippers. I had almost given up, having walked past their usual haunts , when I went to sit on a log by the water and one flew off just in front of me, it’s wings almost clipping the water and with such a speed.It landed , bobbed up and down and was off again.I sat enjoying the sound of the babbling water and the sun felt warm.
No time to go as far as the water fall so I started to head back until I heard a birdsong I had not heard before.I stopped and there was another dipper, sat on a log by some fast flowing water singing away,its voice just audible above the sound of the water. The dipper is the only British Aquatic song bird.A strange sound to start with a cross between a frog and tbrush. Lovely to hear, I moved on once it started diving for food and felt pretty happy to have seen two but then, back to a usual sighting area, there was another. This one was busy gathering nest material from fallen leaves to lichen and then flying up into the side of the bank where it must have it’s nest.Was the female on eggs already ? I could only see one bird,I’m looking forward to returning in a few weeks to see if there are any young.