Sunday 14th October

Another wee drop of rain through the night, almost 4.5" so far this month and it is only the 14th... at least we got a great day although the ground is soaking wet!!! Was out with Bob this morning  doing a count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck, the scores on the doors were as follows 4 Greylags, 900 Barnacle Geese, 126 Curlew, 159 Oystercatcher, 40 Red breasted Merganser, 22 Eider, 3 Heron, 53 Shag, 77 Golden Plover, 24 Mallard, 15 Redshank, 86 Bar tailed Godwit, 12 Turnstone, 3 Pintail and 6 Knot. 2 of the Knot were less than 4 metres away and fearless, but neither Bob or myself  had a camera!! On the "Moss road" leading down to the shoreline, there were several Reed Buntings, Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks and a Coal Tit in the bushes. The Golden Plover in the sunlight were great to see as well. Earlier on Bob had counted 45 Pale bellied Brents at Gartmain. Back at home this afternoon, Bob had a Greylag with a collar on it, so Bob will give us more info on it once he hears back about it. Late afternoon, he had 6 Whoopers out on the stubble field directly in front of his house and later a further 22 on Loch Gearach. On his way home, Bob saw a Short eared Owl. Malcolm had seen an adult Pinkfooted Goose amongst the Barnies round at Ballinaby this morning. Peter, Pia and the "hound" had taken a walk up to Gortantoid this morning, a very productive walk too. At Gortantoid itself, they had several small groups of Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers numbering between 5 - 10 birds. The best was still to  come with a male Firecrest, a Yellow browed Warbler, a Chiffchaff and also a Brambling. Gavin had been out to Claggain Bay today, and had 2 Red throated Divers, 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black Guillemot and a Bottle nosed Dolphin. Back on land, he counted a flock of 50 Redwing. Earlier on he had seen the juv. White tailed Sea Eagle take a wader, it landed on the shore and ate it!!! Other visitors from Leigh had started their visit off this morning with seeing Great Northern Divers, Red Throated Divers and Scaup on Loch Indaal from Bowmore. 

There is a guided walk at Gruinart on Wednesday. Meet at the Visitor Centre at 17.30 to see the geese coming back into roost for folk who are over on Islay this week, all welcome.