Drizzle on Barra

A difficult day in wind and rain with very few birds about, but a male hen harrier was nice as were a couple of flocks of golden plover and other waders. 

I had a nice walk back from Eoligarry jetty to our cottage following the coast all the way, mainly over beautiful beaches many of which I'd never even seen before today and Barra airport café was perfectly placed on the route to give me a break from the elements for a bit.

The first yellow-browed of the autumn and a pintail

A glorious day on Barra, the best yet for weather, light wind and lots of blue skies. Birds included my first yellow-browed warbler of the autumn, a pintail which was a Barra tick for us, house martin, whimbrel, two white-tailed eagles and most surreal, a golden eagle over the co-op while we were doing the shopping! Also today two otters at Eoligarry jetty.

We were at Nask when I heard a yellow-browed warbler call quite clearly but for some reason I ignored it. Then it called again and I asked Ray,  who was looking at his phone, if he had played the call but he hadn't. Then I got interested. It called again a couple of times from the top of a tree and then flew to a pine tree where it stayed for a few seconds before flying off for a final time never to be seen, or heard, again.

Black tern and Sabine's gull from Eoligarry jetty

We spent the afternoon at Eoligarry jetty and managed to re-find the black tern which I think is an adult in non-breeding plumage. Only the second record for Barra and the first for 14 years, so at this time of year it's got to be worth checking to see if it's the American subspecies, especially since we're on an island that attracts American vagrants in autumn. 

The first thing we need to determine is the birds age. I think that this is an adult due to the dark looking primaries. Juveniles do not show the contrast of darker looking primaries on paler grey wings. Unfortunately this makes assigning it to subspecies much harder because a feature of juvenile American black tern is grey flanks which are easy to see. If we knew for sure that this was a juvenile then we could say that it's definitely not American black tern because it has white flanks, but if it's an adult then I'm not sure how to separate them. I think the rump is meant to be paler on adult American black tern but I don't think that the quality of the video is good enough to see that. To be fair I can't even be sure it's an adult at that distance, some images seem to show dark primaries but others don't. Without better views it will just have to go down as black tern. Video slowed to half speed.

Moss Carder Bee, Cleat

We've seen a few moss carder bees this week, best identified by their rusty backs and yellow abdomens, but this one at Cleat today was the best so far. It was a large insect, we wondered if it might be a queen, and it was clinging onto the flowers for dear life in the teeth of 45mph winds today! Even more remarkably, I managed to get a few photos that were in focus, the flowers were shaking at speed in the wind.

A quieter day on Barra

 

The birding's been a bit quiet on Barra today, just a few year ticks added to the holiday list. Best bird probably this ringtail hen harrier at Eoligarry. The scenery though has been just as breathtaking and the colours incredible.

This common seal was at Cleat.

Black tern on a glorious day on Barra

A glorious day on Barra today, with lots of sun and bright blue skies. When the weather is like this the beaches of the Outer Hebrides are second to none that I have seen anywhere in the world, though admittedly I won't be taking a dip in the sea anytime soon here! 

This afternoon we found a black tern off Eoligarry jetty and didn't think too much about it until shortly after we reported it, when one of the resident Barra birders screeched to a halt behind us and sprinted down the jetty to see his first on the island. Believe me, these resident Barra birders have seen it all and you know that you've found something good when they're running towards you! Apparently it's only the second record for Barra and 14 years since the last one! The video is slowed to half speed when the bird is flying. When judging the quality of this video, please bear in mind that the bird was approximately one mile away and the video was taken on my phone 😆. Technology these days is truly amazing!

White-tailed eagles, Eoligarry

We had a walk to Traigh Eais this afternoon from the footpath next to Eoligarry school. Before we reached the beach, these two magnificent adult white-tailed eagles appeared from over Ben Eoligarry Mhor calling to each other. I've never heard white-tailed eagles call before.

Harbour Porpoise from the Armdhor to Eriskay ferry

Three harbour porpoise, common dolphin and three species of diver including 40+ black throated were the highlight of a ferry journey to Eriskay this morning. Over many years of watching cetaceans, harbour porpoise is the one which I have struggled with most when it comes to getting a photo, so I was very pleased to get these today.

Best of all it appears that there was a calf with the harbour porpoise. These were photographed close to Ardmhor on Barra.

Swainson's thrush seconds and a few Barra ticks

A second look at the Swainson's thrush at the Manse today and I managed to get some photos. It's an elusive bird and todays showing lasted all of one minute, but that's pretty good, most of the sightings of this bird have been for less than 10 seconds. It looks a bit like a song thrush but is much smaller, as can be seen in the photos with a blackbird. When in view it was feeding on cotoneaster berries but most of the time it was out of view and presumably feeding on something else. 

Also today, a moss carder bee which was a new species for me, plus white-tailed eagle right over our cottage, hen harrier, great northern and red-throated divers and great views of an otter. Three new Barra ticks for me today, puffin, common scoter and most bizarrely a 1st winter lesser black-backed gull.

Swainson's thrush and a blackbird. The Swainson's thrush looks barely as big as a robin.

Another Swainson's thrush on Barra

Day 1 of a 3 week stay on Barra and we started with a Yank, the Swainson's thrush that was found yesterday was still present and showed well briefly but was generally very elusive. It's the fourth Swainson's ever on Barra and incredibly we've seen three of them! It was a great start, but now we need a Yank passerine that we haven't seen previously. 

Also today, several white-tailed eagles, twite and a nice variety of waders. The other highlight was an otter which showed well at point blank range for 5 seconds. Sadly all of my otter photos are out of focus but I'll post them here so that you can see what I missed! The otter photos are not cropped.

Unfortunately I managed no photos of the Swainson's thrush, so the above is one from 2023 at Castlebay.

Whyyyyy???

Back to Barra!

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.