Monday 31st October

This morning, Mike took the right decision and headed over to the Oa. At Killeyan he had a small flock of 40 Twite and then down at Kinnabus on the wires, Mike counted 630 Twite. Out on Kinnabus Loch, 171 Greenland Whitefronts and a Goldeneye were present. Heading back towards, Port Ellen, Mike saw a Golden Eagle on a rocky outcrop. On Kilnaughton Bay, a GND was seen. Out from Bowmore, on Loch Indaal, 22 Whoopers and 91 Pale bellied Brent were present. From Blackrock, Mike counted 670 Wigeon, 23 Pintail, 650 Golden Plover, 103 Barwits, 28 Knot, 57 Scaup. Uiskentuie held 2 Slavonian Grebe and also 16 Common Scoter. At Gruinart, he had a Dabchick, 64 Pintail, a Hen Harrier and 220 Teal. Dave Pierce along with his clients from Naturetrek had seen a Purple Sandpiper at Blackrock and also the Scaup there as well. They also had 2 good sightings of Chough flocks, one at Ardnave, the other at Kilchoman. On Naturetrek's previous visit, one of their members, Andrew Kingston, had seen the Kingfisher on the Sorn on the 23rd of October, and the next day over at Inver on Jura, a Dipper was seen. Today, Michal had a count of 338 Whitefronts on the reserve at Gruinart and also saw 395 Lapwing.