Last Sunday, Andy Schofield had a stint of sea watching, and over a 5+ hour spell he had a passage of 10,000+ Manx Shearwater flying south west to possibly Ireland after returning from a feeding foray into Scottish waters! There were also 3 Sooty Shearwater observed at the same time, all off the south east coast of Islay.
Yesterday, Andy saw a second year Mediterrean Gull at Gruinart, the first for the RSPB reserve, and only the third record for Islay. This afternoon, down at Carnain, he saw an adult Osprey fly over from the head of Loch Indaal, and it continued to fly inland. Is this still the same bird that has been seen quite often over the summer? Also at Carnain, with tide being fairly close in, were numerous waders including Dulin, Knot and Sanderling. There is now one Dunlin less than before, as a Sparrowhawk was seen taking one! Andy also had a further 2 Sparrowhawk at different locations through the day, today.
Finally, Andy has been seeing Crossbills over the last few weeks, over 200+ since mid July. Andy thinks that they are not the same birds, as the group size is not always the same, varying from 3 up to over a dozen, the make up is different too, relating to the adult birds to juveniles and finally their flight pattern varies, some high fliers, and others lower fliers and others on trees too. He was also saying that a visitor had told him of seeing 3 Otters all in the same bay, possibly a family group. RAS
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