Wednesday 5th March

 A cool, dry, but mostly cloudy sort of day - the winds moderate, from the SW, but not as strong as predicted?

Gary T. was up at Kilchoman and Machir Bay this morning watching 2 White-tailed Eagles riding the wind and finding 2 Snow Buntings on the beach along with a "white-winged gull" that flew off with the main gull flock before he could get close enough for a definite ID.

Theo, from Nature Scotland was out and about, firstly finding 30 Choughs at Sanaigmore with a further 4 at Coull. He had both the Red-breasted and Cackling Goose in the field closest to the RSPB Visitor Centre, then Peregrine, Black-tailed Godwit and 5 Gadwall from the RSPB hides.

Malcolm O. messaged in to give the details of the neck-collared Greenland White-fronted Geese seen yesterday. One of them was ringed on Islay at Ballinaby in winter 2019/20 and has shown up each winter since, in much the same area of the island. The other is a little more interesting, having been ringed at Loch Ken, Dumfries and Galloway in winter 2008/09, wintering there the following year, but moving to Islay in the winter of 2010/11, where it has returned every winter since. It has also been seen on migration in south Iceland in autumn 2010 and 2016, and in spring migration in 2022 and 2023.