Friday 6th October

It is that time again for us al to ty and fit in our WeBS counts... Mike had carried out his patch, Outer Loch Indaal, his birds were as follows, 61 Common Scoter, 34 GND, 5 RTD, 8 Shag, 110 Herring Gull, 24 Common Gull, 2 Black headed Gull and a Harbour Porpoise. James had done his stint on the floods at Gruinart seeing 84 Mallard, a Moorhen, 2 Whoopers, 13 Mute Swan, 299 Teal, 14 Pintail, 97 Wigeon, 2 Curlew, 3 Blackwit, 14 Ruff, 2 Lapwing and 9 Shoveler. Late afternoon, and James had done the goose count on the reserve, with his numbers tallying at 10,650 Barnies, 104 Whitefronts, 6 Brent Geese and 5 Greylags. Phill from down the Oa has had a good day there as well. On Loch Kinnabus, he had 4 Whoopers, the first there for this Autumn. He also saw a Blue Tit and also 3 Long tailed Tit, both new ticks for Phill on the Oa reserve itself. Other birds seen by Phill were 2 Goldcrest, 2 Black headed Gull (the second sighting for 2017),  2 Golden Eagle, a Peregrine, a Hen Harrier and also 2 Grey Wagtail. Here at home, down on the lochans below Rockside, 18 Whoopers were present.