Saturday 8th November

Yesterday Bob, David Formby and myself carried out the survey from Bowmore down along the shore to Gartbreck, unfortunately somebody with 3 dogs was ahead of us which caused some of the birds to fly away before we got a chance to count them!!! So here is the tally for what we did get! A female Merlin, 56 Shag, 1 Cormorant, 2 Mute, 3,000 Barnies, 80 Whitefronts, 4 Greylags, 6 Mallard, 272 Wigeon, 152 Teal, 3 Eider, 7 Red Breasted Merganser, 2 Goldeneye, 40 Oystercatcher, 68 Curlew, 1 Barwit, 30 Dunlin, 15 Redshank, 10 Turnstone, 125 Lapwing, 208 Golden Plover, 45 Ringed Plover, 21 GBB Gull, 50 H Gull, 10 BH Gull and 20 Common Gull. On the fields as we went along, there were many Redwing, Fieldfare, Starlings and Skylarks and also some Rock Pipits along the shore with 2 Ravens on one of the small islands/ skerries. Michael Bell headed home today, but on his way to Port Ellen and the ferry, he had seen 60 Redwing and around 100 Fieldfare down at the Coastguards' with a further 100 Redwing at Leorin. Top bird today was a White tailed Sea Eagle which came down on to the merse at the top of Loch Indaal, no doubt looking for its' breakfast! Down closer to Port Ellen, Michael had 3 Golden Eagles out over the hills. From the ferry, he saw small numbers of Kittiwakes flying South/ South Westerly along the coast, around 43 were spotted within 2 miles of leaving on the ferry. Thanks to Michael, Paul Beresford from Nottingham and also Ken Chapman's party from Sandwich Bay for sending in some of their sightings. Today around midday, Peter had a Blackcap in his garden in Bruichladdich. Up here at home, early afternoon, around 100 Fieldfares flew South, possibly the birds that Michael had earlier this morning.