Another day of unsettled weather - moderate SW/W winds and heavy cloud with showers to start with , then slightly brighter with sunny spells between further heavy, squalls and rain at times.
Rogan W's watch at the Sound of Islay near Port Askaig produced single Great Northern and Red-throated Divers, 34 Shags, 10 Gannets, a Mistle Thrush flying between Islay and Jura and, most unusually a Kingfisher.
Whooper Swans were on the radar again today, with David D. seeing 28 flying over Kinnabus (plus a Merlin) and myself counting 10 (6 young) on Barley stubble at Sunderland and 53 on similar fields just harvested but in a very muddy, water-logged state at Kilchoman. The Kilchoman birds were part of a mass of many hundreds of gulls, Greylags and Barnies feeding on the spilt grain and exposed invertebrates. Towards Machir Bay there was a flock of 70 Linnets.
The "odd goose" saga continues just as we thought it was over with the predation of one a few days ago. But apparently there is a second bird on the island at Bridgend Flats discovered by Mary R. The debate on Chinese Goose versus Swan Goose also continues: the dead bird being declared Swan Goose (the wild species counterpart of the domesticated Chinese Goose) and the still extant bird probably being Chinese Goose.
Back to more interesting wild birds, Bill Bealey had 100 Golden Plover, 60 Lapwings, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits and 6 Curlew on the fields around the North Hide at Gruinart.
Teresa Morris was up at Ardnave today and photographed the gathering Choughs in the late afternoon - count the dots to work out how many!
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