Another day of Storm Beolo producing extremely strong, gale-force or more winds, from a WNW direction with plenty of heavy rain between patches of clearer weather.
Several of the more intrepid birders ventured out and found some interesting birds despite horrible conditions. Rogan W. set out this morning finding White-tailed Eagles over the Woollen Mill and Loch Skerrols where he scored bird of the day - a 1W Ring-necked Duck with the Tufties. Later he noticed a Greenshank off the Gaelic College where a Great Skua was being blown about Loch Indaal.
The strong NW winds were blowing one of ED B.'s radio-tagged Greenland White-fronted Geese fast towards (or just past) Islay from Greenland as can be seen from the map tracking its course.
Neil McMahon witnessed a sad event with a Barn Owl flushed from gorse bushes at Gruinart and being struck by a Peregrine - the owl escapes but the final outcome not known. Neil also noted c.85 Whooper Swans close to Kilchoman distillery - a favourite spot for these passage birds to linger and feed this autumn. A further c.40 Whoopers were seen by his group at Gruinart, with 7 (3 adults and 4 young) c/o David D. at Kinnabus and, rather bizarrely, 19 sat on a raging sea off Frenchman's Rocks when Clive McK. braved a sea-watch this afternoon for an hour. Clive's fortitude produced 1,165 Kittiwakes and 3 Black-headed Gulls, but little else and confirms that this masochistic pastime is better done on Tiree where 24 Grey Phalaropes, single Sooty Shearwater and Pomarine Skua and 5 Little Auks were highlights offshore today!
Other stuff: Rogan finished the day with a group of 14 Long-tailed Tits and the first Brambling at Dunlossit Cottages. Mary R. had a Snow Bunting down at Claddach and Frank Cavanagh saw an "interesting female/ringtail type harrier all too briefly, that put him in mind of perhaps a Pallid - something for birders to keep an eye out for tomorrow............
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