An amazing day in the mist and drizzle on Barra

Arctic warbler, photo ©Bruce Taylor.

An amazing day birding on Barra today, in some of the worst weather we've experienced so far, dull, foggy, often heavy drizzle, yet the birds kept giving! 

Best bird for me was a new bird in the form of an Arctic warbler, but other highlights included finding only the 5th Barra autumn record of osprey, 9 glossy ibis, drake green-winged teal, juvenile ring-necked duck, a fabulous jack snipe, newly arrived whooper swans, a large movement of barnacle geese and a Barra rarity, a treecreeper. I also heard a yellow-browed warbler.

This arctic warbler was found just down the road from our cottage at Ardmor plantation. It proved elusive at first but eventually showed really well.

The glossy ibis at Eoligarry were still present and showed well at times, though often disappearing into the reeds and counting all nine could be a challenge. 

Early morning in the far north near Scurrival camp site we spotted this osprey slowly drifting south along the beach. Apparently this is only 5th autumn record for Barra and is my latest ever, indeed it's the first I have seen in the UK in October. 

In the evening with the drizzle pouring and the fog and murk set in, with our gear drying in front of the heater, we'd just settled down for our evening meal when we got news of a drake green-winged teal at Eoligarry. 

So we were off again even before we had time to eat our dessert and quickly found this latest North American duck on the flooded fields at Eoligarry. 

Nearby, a strong contender for bird of the day was this wonderful jack snipe which we saw bobbing away at close range.

I dont think I've ever seen jack snipe this well before, certainly I've occasionally seen them as close, but usually they are just standing still. This bird was walking around feeding and bobbing. 

It wasn't a particularly well marked green-winged teal but presumably that's partly down to it just coming out of eclipse. As with the ring-necked duck, it's great to see what is presumably a newly arrived bird on the Outer Hebrides. 

This great northern diver was on the Sound of Barra from Eoligarry jetty.

The drake ring-necked duck was still present today at Loch an Ail, where it had been joined by a female tufted duck. 

Six whooper swans were at Eoligarry first thing, and another seven flew past at Loch an Ail. 

At Creachan wood we came across Dead Moll's fingers growing out of a fallen tree. Also here I heard a yellow-browed warbler calling and we saw a treecreeper which is probably rarer than the warbler on Barra.

The flooded fields at Eoligarry.