Sunday 9th October

On Friday, George had a Hen Harrier over at Gruinart at dusk, earlier on at Uiskentuie, he had seen a Swallow. At home today he saw 10 Chaffinches, 2 Greenfinches and 3 Collared Doves in the garden, while down on the shore there was a Merlin. Over at Gruinart today, James's numbers were 3,577 Barnies, 30 Whitefronts, 61 Pale bellied Brent, 2 Canada hutchinsii sp., 1 Peregrine and 27 Whooper Swans. We had a female Peregrine over at Ballinaby this afternoon, and later on a male Hen Harrier at Craigens while we were out looking at the geese. There was quite a lot of rain last night, the best part of an inch, so far this month the total is at 2". With us being away last month, I forgot to put in last month's tally which was 6.75", although we are still drier than last year, the total is catching up!!!On Friday evening Bob went over to Port Askaig to pick up one of his friends from the evening ferry, over there he heard a Tawny Owl and also saw a Barn Owl. Yesterday, they had a Sparrowhawk at home, and also 2 Redpolls as well as a couple of Hen Harriers fly over the garden. In the fields around the house there were 3 Whooper Swans and 55 Lapwing while down at Uiskentuie a Peregrine was present and along at the spit 25 Turnstone were present. From the hide at Gruinart, 1 Black tailed Godwit, 10 Snipe, 300 Teal, 1 female Tufted Duck, 25 Pintail, 15 Shovelor, 20 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe and 2 Moorhen. This morning down at the hide at Gruinart, they had a female Goosander along with the Red breasted Mergansers, 10 Grey Plover and a mixed flock of Sanderling, Bar tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover and Dunlin. While round at Craigens, 15 Whooper Swans flew in. In the Loch Gorm are were 2 flocks of Whitefronts (27 +15), 700 Greylags, 200 Barnies, 60 Tufted Duck on Loch Gorm itself along with 3 Scaup. 2 Arctic Terns were seen on the wing between Bruichladdich and the spit. In the afternoon, on the left of the hide they counted 35 Black tailed Godwit, 20 Snipe, 400 Lapwing, 12 Gadwall, 20 Pintail, 7 Whitefronts and 20 Twite. Back home they had a further 25 Twite in the garden. Over the last couple of days a total of 71 species seen so far!