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.

Winter visitors arrive on a grey day

The weather has turned distinctly wet and misty over the past couple of days and the wind has eased slightly and now has a more easterly element to it. This change off weather appears to have opened the floodgates to allow the arrival of many winter birds. 

First off today though, we saw the arrival of the first skeins of barnacle geese from the west, as 31 dropped onto Traigh Mhor and then later 90 were over Northbay. 

Glossy Ibis and ring-necked duck, Barra

We were watching a juvenile ring-necked duck on Loch an Ail in the north of the island when we got news from the local WhatsApp birders group that a flock of 9 glossy ibis had been seen flying north along the coast near Brevig, heading in our direction. Sure enough 10 minutes later they appeared over the hills behind the loch before disappearing north into the mist. We spent the next hour trying to relocate them.

The ring-necked duck was just as worthy of our attention though and should not be lightly dismissed. A juvenile on the Outer Hebrides in autumn, feeding actively, is surely as good as it gets for a new arrival from North America, especially in the days following an unprecedented fall of North American passerines. I can't think of any ring-necked duck I've seen with better wild credentials than this bird.

Before the storm

With heavy rain and strong winds forecast from mid-morning and then for most of the day, I decided to head out at first light to try to get at least some birding in today. I started out at Eoligarry church and had the shock of my life when I saw probably the yellowest willow warbler I have ever seen! Following recent events here and given that there was an American yellow warbler on Tiree as recently as two days ago, it was certainly a heart stopping moment.

Still there was no sign of the rain and the winds were no worse than moderate so I drove to Eoligarry jetty, parked up and set off down the beach towards the wader roost at Scurrival beach. As I walked I nonchalantly day ticked the two white-tailed eagles on the corpse on the other side of the water, on a beach on Funday island, which we have seen every day since we arrived.

Wheatear in a creel and ring ouzel at Glen

This juvenile wheatear was trapped in a lobster pot at Eoligarry jetty today, but fortunately it didn't seem to have been in too long and we were able to release it unharmed. Apparently many small birds get trapped in creels like this and most probably die. I didn't realise that this happened but from now on I'll be keeping my eyes open for any more birds such this.

Iceland gull, scaup and Pied flycatcher, Barra

This 2nd calendar year Iceland gull has been hanging around Barra golf course recently and is very photogenic.

As you can see here!

Eoligarry

Eoligarry in the north is my favourite part of Barra and today was our first opportunity to visit the area. I just find the views breathtaking everytime I see them.

Pale-bellied brent geese.

 

Red-eyed vireo, Castlebay, Barra

Around 10 days ago Barra experienced an unprecedented fall of North American passerines, with eight individuals present, of three different species. Philadelphia vireo, two Tennessee warblers and five red-eyed vireos! 

For those of us who were imminently about to visit the island for a two week birding holiday this was a difficult time because it happened just a little too early. If it had happened a couple of days before we were due to travel we might have hoped that surely something will stay until we arrive, but 10 days is asking a lot. 

However, a single red-eyed vireo stuck it out in the woods around the football pitch at Castlebay and today showed exceptionally well in good light.

I don't have a great record with North American passerines and this was a UK tick for me. Later in the day the Philadelphia vireo was seen again on a couple of occasions in the same area, but we failed to connect with it. Hopefully one for tomorrow.

Back to Barra

I've travelled through the Sound of Mull on multiple occasions and each time I eagerly dart around the deck of the ferry scanning the skies hoping to see a white-tailed eagle or two, but I've never seen one yet from the ferry. Until today..... 

For some reason today we made up for all of the previous misses by seeing FIVE eagles, two sitting on rocks just north of Craignuire, two on an island off Salen and one flying over cliffs just north of Tobermorry! They kick started a decent ferry crossing from Oban to Barra.  Bird numbers were generally low and were dominated by kittiwakes and gannets, but we did see grey phalarope (Ray only), storm petrel (me only), sooty shearwater, great northern diver and a few Manx shearwaters.

Sharp-tailed sandpiper, Blacktoft

Photo © Matthew Scarborough

I've seen thousands of sharp-tailed sandpipers in Australia, mainly at Werribee treatment works near Melbourne, Victoria. Yesterday a moulting adult was found by Alan Davies at Blackoft RSPB in Yorkshire, and since I was over that way today I decided to call in for a look. I arrived at 06:45 and made my way to the Singleton hide. I've since read Alan's write up on his blog regarding the discovery of the bird and my experience was actually very similar. 

On reaching the packed hide I found a nice selection of waders on show, including at least six curlew sandpipers, 20 spotted redshank, 50 dunlin and a few ruff. Then suddenly there it was. A smaller bird loosely hanging around with the ruff, yet not entirely comfortable with them, often keeping a good distance away and feeding alone. It also seemed quite active and jumpy and didn't stay still for long, and at one point flew onto a muddy island by itself. It was surprisingly ruff like yet lacked that species unique jizz and scaley upperparts, in fact the upperparts were more dunlin like with pale scapular lines. It still had a few arrow like markings on its flanks and a few streaks on its undertail coverts, but along with the reddish cap, these markings weren't so obvious in the poor light.

It was a good job that I did get there early because pretty soon after I arrived the bird disappeared and was not seen again all day. Sharp-tailed sandpiper joins an ever growing list of great waders that I have seen at Blacktoft, which includes Hudsonian godwit, red-necked stint and white-tailed plover! 

The light wasn't great, the hide was packed and the bird wouldn't stay still, so I struggled getting any photos, but fortunately Matthew Scarborough allowed me to use his photo here. 

A long awaited addition to my UK list which now stands at 441.

The return of ST170.852

Amongst the colour ringed birds on the car park at Pennington Flash today, there was a black-headed gull wearing a metal ring on it's left leg ST170852. This bird was ringed as a nestling at Sipoo, Finland 60°14′N 25°22′E on 23/06/2020 which is approximately 1130 miles from the Flash. I first saw it at the flash on 03/11/2022 but despite looking through the gulls almost daily ever since, this is only my second sighting. There are at least two other metal ringed birds on the car park, but both of these have rings on their right legs. One is the long staying bird from Holland, the other I haven't managed to read it's ring yet.