Saturday 1st October

Bob had a little grebe and 2 pectoral sandpipers feeding amongst a flock of 16 ruffs on the reserve just in front of the hide. Female hen harrier was also spotted hunting right in front of the hide. On Loch Indaal he also saw 280 bar-tailed godwits, about 500 oystercatchers, 375 greylags and 50 teal. Back home at Port Charlotte he had a merlin. On the flats at Loch Gruinart there was 8 different ruffs feeding amongst a flock of 128 lapwings. Elsewhere on the reserve there was a mixed flock of 130 linnets and 50 twite and little flock of about 30 goldfinches. Rooks and jackdaws that roost in big numbers in trees at Aoradh seem to discover a new feeding ground on the Floods as the water levels are being raised gradually pushing all invertebrates closer to the surface. George saw a flock of 16 swallows heading south.