Saturday 13 November 2021

Saturday 13th November

 The weather not quite as good as forecast, but mainly dry, calm, and sunny spells between clouds.

I was out morning and afternoon on the proverbial “wild goose chase” with friends visiting and keen to see the Red-breasted Goose. We had wonderful views of tens of thousands of Barnacle Geese as we checked every massive flock on both sides of Loch Gruinart and up to Ardnave – but no RBG. But it was there and we were just unlucky. Both Mark Sullivan and Bob McMillan had good looks on the Ardnave road north of the RSPB Visitor Centre. Bob provided a fine photo of the elusive little blighter (see below). (Mark also saw the Cackling Goose up by Kilchoman Distillery).

We did count 480 Lapwing on Loch Gruinart amidst large numbers of Ringed and Golden Plover, Dunlin, and Bar-tailed Godwits. A drake Goosander and 2 White-tailed Eagles added further interest. We also had 5 Goldeneye on Ardnave Loch while watching the Choughs go to roost.

David Wood had a short time to check Loch Indaal at Bowmore and Blackrock, He reported “Perfect conditions for scanning the loch". A quick look produced 5 Long-tailed Ducks, 9 Scaups, 23 Slavonian Grebes, 18 Great Northern Divers, 3 Black-throated Divers, 9 Red-throated Divers and 70 Brent Geese.



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