Sunday 30th October

Bob was round here yesterday afternoon and had count of over 40 Chough out on the grass reseeds. Back at his house, in his garden, the recent influx of Blackbirds have stripped all the berries from Bob's cotoneaster bushes!! Other birds present included a Goldcrest and also a Willow Warbler. On his way home from here, Bob had seen 2 large Canada Geese along at Sunderland. Also yesterday, James had seen 48 Whoopers on the reserve at Gruinart. Late evening, along the flats, James had a Barn Owl. Michal saw a Grey Wagtail and then a Sparrowhawk close to Gruinart Farm. Mike Bell this morning had counted 42 Chough out on the reseeds and had seen 2 small groups of Whoopers totalling 14 fly South. Up on Ardnave there were a further 11 resting up along with a Goldeneye there as well. A further 27 arrived in from the North, just after the original  party had departed. At Traigh Nostaig, 42 Ringed Plover, 4 Turnstone and 2 Grey Plover were present. Out towards Nave Island, a GND was on the water while 7 Carrion Crows were seen as Mike carried on with his walk. 38 Chough and also a flock of 24 Twite were seen too. Mike also had 4 Snow Bunting further on. Coming back down the road from Ardnave, a ringtail Hen Harrier was seen mobbing a Peregrine which was sitting on a rock! On the cover crop at Creag Mhor, 160 Linnets were counted. On the floods at Gruinart, Mike had seen 55 Pintail, 18 Shoveler,  570 Teal, over 40 Wigeon, a Peregrine and also ringtail Hen Harrier, no sign of the American Wigeon though!!! Over the flats, 660 Golden Plover present with 95 Twite seen at Craigens. Over the far hills, 2 distant Golden Eagle were present. Finally, a female Peregrine was on top of a fence post close to Saligo. Returning visitors, Gordon & Pauline Yates had seen a distant Golden Eagle out over the hills behind Bunnahabhain. Below Rock Mountain, a female Merlin noted. Around lunchtime at Port Charlotte, they had seen the pod of 8 Bottle nosed Dolphins out on Loch Indaal. They also saw 10 Whoopers flying out towards Ireland. On Loch Gorm, this afternoon, Mandy and Fiona had 3 Dabchick, 27 Tufted Duck, 188 Barnies, 68 Whitefronts, 6 Cormorant, 1 GBB Gull and also 5 Mallard. Here at home, late afternoon, we had 2 flocks of Fieldfare flying high, one around 150 birds the other 80+,  both moving South