SANDWICH BAY BIRD OBSERVATORY EXPEDITIONS THE EXPERIENCE OCTOBER 31ST TO NOVEMBER 7TH 2014

Friday October 31st: En route to Islay We had an early start to our trip, with almost everyone gathering at the Observatory for the coach to pick us up at 3.30 a.m. As it happened, it was some fifteen minutes late but it made good time en route to Gatwick and some of us were even able to catch up on some sleep! The airport transfer went smoothly and even the breakfast served while on our flight north to Glasgow was acceptable. At Glasgow there was a minor ‘ripple’, bearing in mind the problems that had occurred earlier in the week, when there appeared to be no mini-buses. However, a quick phone call to the company put our minds at rest and we found them ready and waiting a short walk away. We headed north out of Glasgow, crossed the Erskine Bridge near Dumbarton and on up the west side of Loch Lomond. The autumn colour of the trees lining the road were commented on by all, but we saw few birds until our first stop, at Arrochar, set at the head of the sea- loch, Loch Long. Here the muddy margins held a number of gulls, including Common Gulls,

1 while the Corvids on the ‘beach’ included at least a dozen Hooded Crows. Two Goldeneye were seen offshore while waders included Redshank and Curlew. A Grey Wagtail and several Rock Pipits were found and one member of the group walked a short distance to find a Dipper on a nearby burn. We then headed off into the Argyll mountains, climbing up the long incline to the ‘Rest and be Thankful’ pass. Here a road diversion due to a landslide took us down a back route through Forestry Commission land, but we re-joined the main road at the top of the pass. From there it was downhill and onwards through beautiful scenery as we drove along the sides of sea-lochs, including Loch Fyne, where the oysters come from, stopped at Inveraray for lunch and then onwards through Lochgilphead and down to Tarbert. We had arrived in plenty of time here to walk around and explore this busy fishing port. In the harbour were a few Little Grebes and some Mute Swans, but not much else. Our final leg of the journey, took us by way of the ferry ‘port’ at Kennacraig on the Caledonian-MacBrayne (Calmac) ferry out to in Islay. Despite the fresh wind and the rain lashing down on the decks outside, the crossing was surprisingly good and the on- board cuisine was sampled by most of us before we arrived on Islay and were transferred to our hotel or Youth Hostel in and Port Charlotte respectively. We started our Islay bird list in the dark, when a Barn Owl was flushed from a roadside fence post just as we came into Bridgend. A long day and a varied one!

Saturday November 1st Bowmore; ; RSPB Reserve and Ardnave Our first day on Islay. For those of the group staying at the Port Charlotte Youth Hostel, the day dawned red over Loch Indaal and, as the weather lore has it, the ‘red sky in the morning’ did prove correct because there were showers of rain on and off all day to-day, but bright intervals in between. People in one of the mini-buses were fortunate enough to see our first Choughs as they travelled in across the head of Loch Indaal on the way in to breakfast at the Bowmore Hotel. And all of us had glimpses of the large flocks of Barnacle Geese coming off their overnight roosting sites on the mud-flats. However, the main birding started for everyone just after breakfast as we called in at Bowmore Harbour. Here we found good numbers of Red- breasted Mergansers and a few Eider Ducks and Great Crested Grebes. The best birds, however, were at least 3 Great Northern Divers which were seen quite well out in the Loch. Two of these were still in summer plumage. Moving north round the Loch we found further species to add to our growing list, including a nice flock of migrating Redwings, before moving inland towards the RSPB Reserve at Loch Gruinart. Arriving at , a large flock of Barnacle Geese in a field also had a number of Greenland White fronted Geese with them and a single Pink-footed Goose, a

2 species which is not at all common on Islay, but, even better, there was a Cackling Goose. This small member of the Canada Goose family breeds in the Canadian Arctic and although it is a vagrant to Britain as a whole, it does turn up in most winters on Islay. It was previously considered as a sub-species of Canada Goose but is now treated as a separate species by most authorities. Just after leaving the site, one group of us were fortunate to have views, (though rather distant), of a White Tailed Eagle. White-tailed Eagles have only been breeding on Islay for a few years, but there are now thought to be at least two pairs and a further one on Jura, plus, of course, the various young birds. A couple of hundred Golden Plover were also frequenting the damp pastures below the RSPB Centre, mixed in with Lapwings. After visiting the RSPB Centre, we spent the next hour or so in the hides overlooking the wetland area. There were good, close-range views of various duck such as Teal and also of Barnacle, Grey Lag and Greenland White-fronted Geese. Two Hen Harriers were found and 2 Ruff by one group of us. A very distant bird of prey was clearly an Eagle of some sort, (probably Golden), but it did not come close enough for us to confirm its identity. We then drove north up to Ardnave Loch, which held about half a dozen Whooper Swans, but much more interesting were a decent-sized flock of about 40 Choughs, feeding in a typically-active, loose flock as they foraged over the short-grass of the sand-dunes there. We all returned to the Youth Hostel at Port Charlotte to do the daily bird log and to plan for the next day.

Sunday November 2nd Loch Gruinart; ; Loch Indaal; / Port Wemyss and The Rhinns of Islay After yesterday’s heavy rain showers, to-day dawned much brighter but with a brisk south- westerly wind to blow the clouds along. Leaving Bowmore after breakfast, we found a group of Pale-bellied Brent Geese along the shore. The Pale-bellied race of the Brent Goose are much the commoner along north-west shores of Britain, compared to the Dark-bellied Brent which we get in the south-east. Continuing towards Loch Gruinart we came across a flighty flock of Fieldfares, clearly newly- arrived from the Continent, and there were a few Redwings about too. We drove up the east side of Loch Gruinart, with the light behind us, and again there were large flocks of Barnacle Geese to be seen. We added a few more birds to our list including four Greenshank, a few of which winter on Islay, and a late migrant Whimbrel. Other waders included Dunlin, Redshank and many Oystercatchers. We called in at the RSPB Centre again, then continued over the moorland towards Loch Gorm. Along this road, a ‘ringtail’, (female or juvenile), Hen Harrier flew across the road, the first of several to be seen to-day.

3 After a short drive, we arrived at Machir Bay. The westerly wind was blowing up some quite decent waves along the deserted sandy beach and most people went out for a bracing walk. Some birds were on the dunes and the surrounding area, including Choughs, for which this is a favourite area. (Choughs are dependent on having close-cropped turf grassland near the coast, so they can feed on the invertebrates living in the turf). Returning inland from Machir Bay we came across two very large flocks of Rock Doves, totalling perhaps 400 birds, which were taking advantage of grain left in a stubble field. (Just think, farmer’s fields used to be like this all over Britain….). Rock Doves are the wild ancestors, of course, of town and city Feral Pigeons, but everyone agreed that these smart pale-grey, white-rumped birds were in a different league. The concentration of birds that we saw must represent a large proportion of the population from northern Islay and they are usually only seen in pairs or very small groups. In the afternoon, we skirted round the north-west side of Loch Indaal and drove down towards the south-west tip of Islay. On the way, extensive sea-views opened up on our left and it was possible to just pick out the outline of the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland and the mountains of County Donegal, lying away south on the southern horizon. At Portnahaven and Port Wemyss, two beautiful former fishing villages, a number of Atlantic Grey Seals were hauled out, but there were few birds about and this proved to be the case, apart from a few Buzzards, as we drove back across The Rhinns on our way back to Port Charlotte. A Great Northern Diver, just offshore there, did provide the photographers with some sport.

Monday November 3rd. Bridgend Woods; Lock Skerrols; the Woollen Mill; and the Sound of Jura. Another bright, breezy and sunny start to the day, but, just like yesterday, by the afternoon heavy rain showers started to appear, to put a dampeners on things, but by that time we were back in the mini-buses, heading ‘home’. We found a Long-tailed Duck near Bowmore in the morning and then had a slightly later start as both people and one of the vehicles needed looking at, in A and E and the garage respectively, so only two of the mini-buses left Bowmore at the usual time. We headed for the woods around Bridgend and the walk alongside the River Sorn there. One of the mini- buses also took in a brief visit to the nearby freshwater Lock Skerrols. The woodlands produced a range of winter birds, including Blue, Coal and Great Tit; several Tree Creepers and one or two Goldcrests. The bird feeders at the Woollen Mill were also attracting Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch and here one member of the group found one of the resident Dippers. Loch Skerrols had a few ‘new’ species for the week, including Tufted Duck, Coot and Pochard, while a single female Bullfinch was found perched up on the top of a conifer. We had a picnic lunch outside the hotel at Bridgend before all getting in the mini-buses for a drive north-east across the island.

4 Leaving the ‘main road’ near Port Askaig we continued along a minor road with increasingly great scenic views across the Sound of Jura towards the ‘twin peaks’ of the Paps of Jura. (there are, in fact, three ‘Paps’, but one is obscured by the other two, bigger ones). The vehicles went quiet as most people soaked in the views. To the north, across the sea, we could also see the on the distant horizon, with Muck and Eigg also visible. At the end of the tarmac road lies the distillery at Bunnahabhain and we got out here to have a look round. Away to the north, two distant ‘flying barn doors’ were clearly White- tailed Eagles, but these were the only views that we had of these birds. There were quite a lot of sea-ducks and other birds offshore in the Sound of Jura, often being floated along in the very fast-running currents here. We found Eider Duck here, plus a few Common Scoter and there were some divers, mostly Great Northern. Another Otter put in an appearance and, as we left, some of us picked up a Peregrine over a nearby hillside.

Tuesday November 4th: Duich Lots; the Mull of Oa,; ; south-east coast road to and on to . Another bright start to the day, with a cool north-west breeze and shower clouds soon developing. Those of us driving in from the Youth Hostel stopped to inspect a ‘raft’ of some 65 Greater Scaup near Black Rocks at the head of Loch Indaal. There were a few Red- Breasted Mergansers present too, but no Slavonian Grebes, which often associate with the Greater Scaup. In fact, we didn’t see Slavonian Grebe at all during the week, even though they were reported in quite good numbers out in Loch Indaal by other birders and can usually be more or less ‘guaranteed’ at this time of the year. After breakfast, some members of our group added Ringed Plover to our bird list, from Bowmore Harbour, but the low tide had not encouraged much else to come near. We set off from Bowmore across the flat expanse of the Duich Lots, a large area of peat bog where local residents still occasionally cut peat for domestic use in the winter and where the is also located. After the airport we turned off on increasingly narrow roads south towards the Mull of Oa. (The word ‘mull’, by the way, means a piece of land projecting into the sea – a peninsula, in other words). Fields outside of Port Ellen held large flocks of Barnacle Geese and, a little further on, we began to encounter loose mixed flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares, along with Chaffinches. A male Yellowhammer, the only one we saw all week, was perched up on a gate-post and one of the mini-buses had the good fortune to find a mixed flock of Twite and Linnets. We parked up at the RSPB Mull of Oa Reserve, with extensive views across Loch Indaal to Port Wemyss and Portnahaven, where we had been two days previously. A climb up across the coastal moorland took us to the American Monument, a fine viewpoint across to the cliffed coastline of the Mull itself and southwards towards Northern Ireland. A small group of feral Goats attracted attention here – they seemed perfectly at ease moving about on

5 sixty-degree slopes above the vertical drop to the rocks below! A Rock Pipit was photographed at the Monument and there were nice views to be had of a perched-up Peregrine. Walking along the cliff-tops produced the desired views of Golden Eagle as one bird from the resident local pair came reasonably close to most of the group as it dived into a gully in the cliffs before moving away. A little later it, (or its partner), was seen distantly on the top of a ridge, head into the wind. Two Fulmars were also seen in this area before we started the return walk to the car-park. Leaving the Mull of Oa we travelled back through Port Ellen, on past the and Laphroaig distilleries and eventually pulled in to the Ardbeg distillery. What the staff thought there when nearly 30 customers turned up unannounced is anyone’s guess, but they got on with the job of serving everyone in an efficient manner – and the loos were pretty special, too! We then continued northwards through wooded country and little sheltered bays, seeing a couple of Fallow Deer and a fine Red Deer stag and some of ‘his’ hinds, before diverting to Kidalton Churchyard to inspect the Celtic crosses and other memorials which are found there. As we resumed our journey, a surprise bird was a Woodcock which was flushed from the roadside by the first mini-bus. Atlantic Grey Seals were seen hauled out at several locations. We then continued to our final site for the day, at Claggain Bay. Here, with distant views across to the Mull of Kintyre on the Scottish mainland, we spent some time either pottering about along the beach or doing some sea-watching, a pleasant experience with the last light and warmth of the November sun on our backs. Quite a lot of birds were offshore, if a little distant. These included a number of Gannets, (some of them being harried by a lone Great Skua), Great Northern Divers, Common Scoter and a winter- plumaged Black Guillemot.

Wednesday November 5th Jura A fine red sunrise greeted those of us driving in from Port Charlotte in the morning, but this time the weather-lore did not hold good, because to-day proved to be warm, calm and sunny – a brilliant late-Autumn day, in fact. Some members of the group had seen a Bar-tailed Godwit, new for our list, at Bowmore Harbour, before we all boarded the mini-buses to head off to Port Askaig for the 10.30 ferry to Jura. The crossing was straightforward except that due to loading restrictions we had to do it in two journeys. Once all re-assembled on the Jura side, we set off across the southern end of the island, seeing little on the moorland there except for large numbers of Red Deer. (Red Deer out-number people on Jura many times over). We stopped at the main, (and only), ‘town’ on Jura, at Craighouse – a welcome stop for coffee and toilets. A few birds were offshore in the still, blue waters. These were mostly

6 Great Northern Divers and Red-breasted Mergansers, while some of the group found a Dipper on a local burn and a Tree Sparrow was in the hotel garden. Our lunch was a picnic by the edge of a wide bay, where cattle were wandering about on the beach, and where such species as Goldcrest were found foraging through a local gorse patch and Siskins were seen in nearby conifers. After lunch we did a long drive further north up the coast of Jura, to eventually stop at another place called Tarbert, where the Vikings used to haul their boats out to cross over a narrow neck of land, (and, in this case, to avoid the risk of going round the north end of Jura where the Corryvreckan whirlpool was a real hazard). Most of the group walked along the trail that the Vikings would have taken before we had to turn round and make the long journey back to the ferry at Feolin. A nice male Snow Bunting turned up here and there were further sightings of an Otter. There were some good fireworks to look at in the evening, for those staying at Port Charlotte, courtesy of the Port Charlotte Hotel.

Thursday November 6th ‘Free’ day The forecast rain and gales duly arrived overnight and lasted much of the day – when it rains here, it really does rain and by the evening it was coming down in torrents. Fortunately, the weather on Islay is also usually very quick to blow over and this storm proved to be a one- day event. Despite the weather, all three mini-buses were out and about. One bus visited various ‘retail outlets’ and did a visit to the in the afternoon; another has most of the photographers on board, to re-visit sites that we had been to earlier in the week, while the third bus did much the same, without the clicking of shutters. The RSPB Reserve at Gruinart had much the same bird populations as before, except seen through horizontal or sideways rain. We did see some Pintail and Shoveler here, amongst the more common species, and, back near Bowmore, another look at a Long-tailed Duck. Meanwhile, the photographers had added Mistle Thrush to our group list. Many of us assembled in the evening at the Port Charlotte Hotel where they crammed us in to their cosy bar and served up some good food. We all did a ‘3 best things about the trip’ exercise, the results of which are summarised below, before venturing out into the rain to make our way back to our beds.

7 Friday November 7th Farewell to Islay We had to make a slightly earlier start to-day, to get everything stowed on the mini-buses. It promised to be a nice day, with yesterday’s gale already blown through and near calm conditions taking over, with bright sunshine on the waters of Loch Indaal. We kept on birding, of course, with several Hen Harriers seen on our journey across Duich Lots to Port Ellen. Group photos were taken on the quay-side at Port Ellen before we boarded the M.V Isle of Arran for our journey back to the mainland. The actual crossing from Port Ellen to Kennacraig could hardly have been better, with very light seas and excellent visibility of the diminishing coastline of Islay and up towards Jura in the north. We soon started seeing a range of sea-birds, several of which were new to our group list. Common and Black Guillemots were found, with a few Razorbills and a single distant Puffin; a number of Great Northern Divers and groups of Kittiwakes. Nearer the mainland, in more sheltered waters, we came across a few Red-throated Divers and our last sighting of an Otter. We stopped at Lochgilphead for a picnic lunch, where gulls were photographed and nearby there were a number of Teal and Oystercatchers roosting-up over high tide and three female Goldeneyes put in an appearance. We then drove on into the Argyll mountains – surely one of the best drives, scenically, anywhere in Britain, especially on a still, sunlit Autumn day like this. Our last birding stop, at Arrochar on Loch Long, was where we had come in, seven days ago – and the same birds were found, even down to the Dipper on the burn. The final leg of our road journey took us on busier and busier Friday evening roads towards the hand-over of the mini-buses at Glasgow Airport, then a longish wait for the flight down to London and the coach back to East Kent.

Some final thoughts and your ‘3 Best Things about the trip’. This was quite an ambitious trip, to take 35 people to Islay, with several different modes of transport involved, and accommodation having to be split between two sites. (There is nowhere on Islay that could accommodate all of us at the same place). The feedback that Mike and I have got so far, seems to suggest that everyone enjoyed the experience and there is already talk of a return trip – perhaps in the Spring next time, to see Corncrakes and other breeding birds. Watch out for future announcements – but it won’t be until 2016 at the earliest and it won’t involve as many people – probably only one mini-bus – and it definitely won’t involve the Bowmore Hotel! According to my records, we saw 111 species during the week, which is a very respectable total for Islay at this time of the year. We didn’t miss out on much - Slavonian Grebe being the main one which we really should have seen and we didn’t see such species as Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper and Short-eared Owl, all of which we could have expected to

8 find – and some of the views of other birds could have been closer, but that’s how it goes sometimes. The group‘s ‘3 Best things about the Trip’ are listed below, not in any particular order. I hope that they will bring back some memories!

The scenery Brian’s driving in the torrential rain The weather The otters The flock of 40 Chough at Ardnave on the first day The Golden Eagle at the Mull of Oa The big flock of Rock Doves above Loch Gorm Jura in the sunshine All of the wildlife! The Snow Bunting while waiting for the ferry at Feolin. The Port Charlotte Hotel sea-food chowder. The food in general. The wild goats on the cliffs at the Mull of Oa The ‘Barnies’ , (Barnacle Geese), every morning. The Peregrine at . The fireworks at the Port Charlotte Hotel Seeing a Great Northern Diver before breakfast The red sunrise over Loch Indaal. The journey in from Port Charlotte to Bowmore every morning The deer. The Highland cattle The colour of the bracken on the hillsides The light through the trees on the woodland walk at Bridgend Machir Bay – that beach! The green on the head of a male Eider Duck

9 The company! Actually getting everyone there!

The Islay Group at Port Ellen, November 7th 2014

Ken Chapman Deal, Sunday November 9th 2014

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