Sunday 18th October

Another very pleasant day with light south to SSE winds, clear, sunny and dry.

A few additions to yesterday's good haul of birds came in after I wrote the blog too early yesterday evening:

Rogan W. added single Gadwall, Ruff, 5 Greenshank, 3 Blacko-tailed Godwits and 18 Pintail at RSPB Gruinart. Theo with his Nature Scotland group saw Redwing, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Barn Owl at Foreland and had 21 Brent Geese, 2 Greenshank, 15 Knot, 7 Long-tailed Duck, 3 Tufted Duck and a Little Egret on Loch Indaal. John Miles was also watching on Loch Indaal during the day and noted a Whimbrel, 21 Slavonian Grebes, 6 Great Northern Divers, 20+ Red-throated Divers, 10 Long-tailed Duck, 34 Common Scoter, 26 Turnstone and 50+ Ringed Plover.

Today continued the good birding, kicking off with a report for late yesterday from an unknown observer, presumably here but not on the WhatsApp group of a juvenile Snow Goose at Leorin. Rogan was quick off the mark and found it (plus a Merlin, Yellowhammer, 2 Grey Wagtails and a White-tailed Eagle), sending in the photo below. 2019 was the last time this species was recorded on Islay, and this one, a juvenile bird arriving with the big influx of Barnacle Geese would suggest a genuine wild vagrant rather than a feral bird. The other good, but sort of expected rarity was later in the day when Theo's group located a Richardson's type Cackling Goose up on the fields close to the RSPB Visitor Centre. We seem to get 1-2 of these each year, but this one is quick off the mark!

Other Stuff: Mary R. noticed an unusually large gathering of c.200 Jackdaws near Claddach this morning. Jim Dickson saw similar numbers at Machir Bay yesterday and it is interesting that there was an arrival of 450 on Bardsey Island in the Irish Sea yesterday where they used to breed but no longer do so. Theo increased the Pochard count on Loch Gorm to 3 drakes, along with c.50 Tufted Ducks and a White-tailed Eagle. On The Oa David D. recorded a Chiffchaff today (and a Willow Warbler yesterday) with Redwings heard flying over last night. Teresa Morris was at Saligo finding 11 Twite and Andy Howard found 2 Little Egrets up at Killinallan on Loch Gruinart. Rogan had the Whimbrel again off the Gaelic College, where the Scaup were still present, as were the 2 Snow Buntings at Carnain. Mike Whitcombe witnessed the inevitable preying on Barnacle Geese by a couple of White-tailed Eagles at Gruinart this afternoon and finally James H. noted our first Fieldfare of the autumn at Gruinart along with a very high count of 85 Snipe from the S. Hide.