Saturday 28th January

A bright, sunny, fairly calm morning, turning a tad cloudier with hints of drizzle by later afternoon. But it encouraged a few folk to go out birding:

Malcolm Ogilvie reported two flocks of Redwings seen today, 15-20 on the Oa near Mid Cragabus, and 30-40 near Laphroaig,

David Wood migrated from his home territory on The Oa this morning to check out birds in Loch Indaal off Blackrock and Bowmore with the following results: 25 Long-tailed Duck, 24 Slavonian Grebe, 28 Great Northern Diver, 12 Red-throated Diver, 13 Goldeneye, 158 Common Scoter, 55 Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Tysties, and 37 Eider. That is a fairly high count of Common Scoter, but seemingly the Surf Scoter no longer with them.

Jim Wells was over from N. Ireland with a boatload of birders. They were up at Ardnave and Gruinart this morning finding 4 White-tailed Eagles, 29 Chough, groups of Twite, 4 of James's 5 Little Egrets and the very long-staying female Marsh Harrier.

I did a walk up to Ardnave Point this afternoon, but by then it was remarkably quiet. The only geese were 250 Barnacle Geese on Nave Island, where 240 Seals were hauled out. The coastline held a few small groups of common waders, but the fields and grazing seemed empty. Ardnave Loch had a group of  7 Whooper Swans in residence.