Friday 27th November

Earlier this week, on one of the days when there was a brief lull in the weather, Mary managed to carry her WeBS, so here are Mary's "scores on the doors". On Loch Gruinart itself the tally was 6 Cormorant, 1 Shag, 5 Heron, 117 Shelduck, 161 Wigeon, 7 Mallard, 2 Goldeneye, 30 R B Merganser, 141 Oystercatcher, 29 Ringed Plover, 1010 Golden Plover, 705 Lapwing, 2 Knot, 25 Sanderling, 130 Barwit, 63 Curlew, 30 Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 5 Turnstone, 13 B H Gull, 20 C Gull, 29 H Gull, 7 Gbb Gull and 33 Greylags. On the floods, 6 Mute, 8 Whoopers, 9 Greylags, 68 Teal, 38 Mallard, 8 Pintail, 6 Shoveler, 2 R b Merganser, 1 Heron, 171 Lapwing, 1 Curlew, 1 Greenshank and 16 Redshank. Up on Ardnave Loch the tally was 6 Mute, 7 Whoopers, 23 Wigeon, 2 Teal, 8 Mallard, 2 Tufted Duck, 10 Goldeneye and a Heron. Thanks Mary! Wednesday was the last full day of Ken and the Burbagebirders. They headed off down to the Port Ellen area in the hope of seeing the cackling goose, but no joy. Undeterred, Ken and his team headed up to Coal Ila and Bunnahabhain (possibly the Distilleries?).... Yes, they turned up trumps with 3 Golden Eagles and 2 White tailed Sea Eagles seen over Jura with an Otter seen in the Sound of Islay. On the road over to Ardnave, every flock of geese was scanned but still no cackling goose, but Ardnave proved trumps with over 40 Chough seen out on the wing. Ken and the team left yesterday morning, on a flat calm crossing, last bird for the list were some Black Guillemots who missed the bow of the ferry by a mere metre! Hopefully it won't be too long before you return again, always a pleasure to meet up with you when you are over...