Friday 25th October

Very light winds, overcast and drizzly for much of the morning, with a bit of dry and breaks in the clouds in the afternoon. 

The change for the better in weather, with much lighter winds, produced a substantial migration of Whooper Swans today, with too many people to credit sending in reports throughout the day. It is difficult to know how many in total went through, with some stopping off briefly as they so often do. Given that few counts of the flocks in different parts of the island were the same, many of the reports likely relate to separate groups? 5 flocks totalling 143 birds flew in from the north down Loch Gruinart. 3 flocks totalling c.45 birds were seen down at Portnahaven. Two flocks totalling 79 birds went by at Cornabus. 15 went past on The Oa, with 10 on Loch Skerrols and 30-50 on Loch Indaal. So, possibly as many as c.340 recorded, with, presumably others going by unnoticed.

Redwings were also arriving today. While Tiree reported 2,000 heading south, there only references to smaller flocks popping up here and there, though Ella Simpson and David Wood counted 40 more on The Oa and Clive Mc. had a flock of 200 drop in at Gruinart, plus smaller flocks pushing the total to 325.

Other odds-and-ends included 6 Canada Geese at Gartmain from Gary T. and 2 Goldcrests at Kinnabus c/o David Wood who gets the prize for "Bird of the Day" with a Yellow-browed Warbler at Kinnabus. (Though I'm sure most folks out birding today would have found the visible migration of so many glorious Whoopers passing through, calling as they went, equally exciting?).