Glossy Ibis

To be honest Glossy Ibises are always a little disappointing. I spent a long time in Spain years ago trying to see one, eventually catching up with one in the Coto Donana in Andalusia. Straight after that they seemed to have a population boom and I could hardly go anywhere in Spain without seeing one. In Britain, too, they have become commoner with regular mini-invasions tied in, the experts think, with water problems back in the Coto Donana.
Either way there have been ones and twos around in the Western Isles this winter but I had failed to catch up with them until today. Glossy Ibis has a glamorous ring to it but in fact they are brown, scruffy birds a bit bigger than a chicken which generally spend their lives in small, muddy pools. This one was no different although when the sun shone you can just see a hint of the gloss referred to in the species name.
Best day for a while the wind has dropped and plenty of blue sky about. We had a good stroll around the headland at Aird An Runair - anything to put of doing those shelves!