Friday, 13 October 2023

Friday 13th October

It’s been a busy, birdy day! Ed Burrell flushed a Jacksnipe at Cornabus and spotted a Todd’s Canada Goose at Balvicar. Another Todd's was seen at Loch Gruinart by Dan Pointon. The Red-Breasted Goose was spotted at Gruinart by Theo, who also saw a Glaucus Gull from the North Hide.

James How, Lauren Stewart, and myself have had another hard day counting birds in the sunshine here at Loch Gruinart, here are our results for the goose counts and WeBS:

13,160 Barnacle Geese, 279 White Fronts, 79 Pale Bellied Brent’s, 929 Teal, 229 Wigeon, 145 Mallard, 45 Pintail, 25 Shoveler, 3 Tufted Ducks, 2 Gadwall, 1 Shelduck, 17 Red-Breasted Merganser, 74 Black-Tailed Godwits, 11 Snipe, 1 Ruff, 453 Lapwing, 803 golden plover, 215 Oystercatchers, 46 Ringed Plover, 6 Knot, 31 Sanderling, 482 Dunlin, 351 Bar-Tailed Godwits, 121 Curlew, 61 Redshank, 55 Turnstone, 7 Greenshank, 96 Black-Headed Gulls, 97 Common Gulls, 28 Herring Gulls, 3 Great Black-Backed Gulls, 16 Mute Swans, 14 Whoopers, 1 Little Egret, 7 Herons, 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin, 2 Hen Harriers, and 2 White-Tailed Eagles.

Other incidentals we saw on the way round include 1 Wheatear, 3 Bullfinches, 2 Swallows, and a Jacksnipe.

Shrike news: the Lesser Grey Shrike was seen again this morning by Neil Bew, it did seem to be settling into life on the Sanaigmore road but was a no-show this afternoon for Steve Rogers. Peter Roberts saw it tucking into washed up earthworms so here’s hoping for some more rain!

My favourite bit of bird news today came in from David Dinsley who saw a juvenile Corncrake that seems to have stopped for a rest at Kinnabus. It now has a long night and good north westerly wind behind it and should be safely off again on its long journey south.

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