Monday 14th September

A glorious day out here folks, with a tremendous sunset coming here soon as well. I was speaking to folk on the mainland who have not been so lucky today! Yesterday, Bob, Gary and myself carried out the WeBS count from Bowmore to Gartbreck, along the shore of Loch Indaal, so here are our birds. 11 Mute Swan, 1 Cormorant, 35 Shag, 2 Kittiwake, 900 Greylag, 17 Mallard, 41 Teal, 3 Wigeon, 9 Eider, 52 R B Merganser, 2 Heron, 20 Oystercatcher, 26 Curlew, 66 Barwits, 31 Knot, 5 Redshank, 88 Dunlin, 4 Greenshank, 11 Ringed Plover, 2 Ruff, 5 Turnstone, 27 GBB Gull, 1 LBB Gull, 121 H Gull, 6 C Gull and 42 BH Gull. As we walked down the lane towards the shore, a Peregrine zipped past and shortly after around 50 Twite were seen. Bob at Gartmain saw 600 Greylags on the destroyed barley field, with 132 Wigeon and 63 Mallard on Loch Indaal itself. Jim Dickson is over for the week, on Saturday he had a count of 105 Woodpigeon on the silage aftermath at Sunderland. Today, Jim had an American Wigeon at Ardnave Loch, 2 Whitethroats at The Hedges and finally 450 Starlings at Rockside roadend.