Had the preceding night been a shocker or what? The hotel car park had developed lakes and the sky did not bode much better as I drove out. Indeed my stay at Rattray Head was curtailed by a thorough drenching -- and all for one seal.

So, I was kind of damp when I got to the visitor centre at Loch of Strathbeg. A quick Spotted Redshank brightened things up and the flocks of Pink-footed Geese kept them interesting. There was one other guy in the centre who kept on pointing out birds and it was he who put me on to the Whoopers, which I had just passed over as Mute Swans.

I had missed out on Whooper Swans in 1998, so it had been a while since I had seen them. Somehow they seem more natural than their mute cousins and therefore more impressive. The two in view were actually asleep but they were a thrill all the same.

Later I got better views of a flock from one of the hides at the old aerodrome. I also managed to add Scaup to my British list. It took a lot of waiting for it to float past Tufted Ducks to compare sizes, head shapes and so on. Again the bird was asleep, so the job was much more difficult. But I was happy with the identification in the end.

The day sort of petered out after that. I was getting a bit fed up with being blown about and rained on, so I basically drove round most of the ports on the north Aberdeenshire coast -- including Pennan where Bill Forsyth filmed Local Hero. Hm, must see the film again.