It's that time of year again when Ray and I migrate north to the island of Barra in
the Outer Hebrides.
Following a six hour drive to
Oban we boarded the CalMac ferry "The Isle of Lewis" which took us on a five
hour boat journey through the Sound of Mull, past the Inner Hebridean islands
of Rhum, Eigg, Coll and Tiree and then across the Sea of the Hebrides to
Castlebay on Barra. Then it's a 15 minute drive to the cottage which will be our home for the next three weeks.
Todays boat trip was never going to reach the epic heights of
last years return journey (opens in a new window) when we saw around 1000 great and 200 sooty
shearwaters, but it was still a decent trip, the highlights being juvenile
Sabine's gull, juvenile long-tailed skuas, four great skuas and eight storm
petrels. On the way we got news of the discovery of a Swainson's thrush at
Manse on Barra, and that no doubt will be our first stop tomorrow, but for now
it's time for bed after a long and tiring day.
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