Friday 12th April

That's more like it!  Thank you very much to all the contributors today, who have been out and about, seeing good birds and sharing them on WhatsApp. Frank Cavanagh was first off, seeing an exceptionally early Storm Petrel and a few Manx Shearwaters heading west around The Oa first thing in the morning, as well as some Fulmars on the cliffs. Storm Petrels are regularly seen during autumn seawatches at Frenchman's Rocks, sometimes in low hundreds, but the previous earliest date was 21st May. Maybe the recent high winds have brought it inshore. They've never been proved to breed here, though their typical musky smell has been detected a couple of times in suitable locations at Stremnishmore and Smaull.

Alistair saw a fine male Snow Bunting at Claddach at about midday, together with a Wheatear, and, while doing a short seawatch at Frenchman's Rocks, had 30+ Gannets and 10+ Manx Shearwaters, as well as some Razorbills and Guillemots. In the early afternoon, Frank had a pair of Whimbrel, the first this spring, also at Claddach. Later on, he saw a juvenile Glaucous Gull at Bridgend, which had been seen earlier in the day by Gary Turnbull, while, in the late afternoon, Sam saw a Little Egret on the Bridgend merse opposite Whin Park, close to where I saw two earlier in the day. Little Egrets have been steadily moving north as a breeding species in Britain, but seem to take a number of years of visiting before they start to breed. There have been long-staying birds on Islay since 2008, and, since 2018, from one to three birds have been here year-round. Let's hope it isn't too long before they decide to nest. Of course, another possibility is that all the birds that are wandering north of their breeding range are of the same sex (!), but that's difficult to prove for a species with the male and female seemingly identical.

Here are three photographs submitted today. Alistair's Snow Bunting and Frank's Whimbrel and Glaucous Gull. Thanks very much for these.