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Friday 22 August 2014

Martyn's house and Howmore area, Saturday 16th August 2014

Hi, today was fairly stale compared to the past few days, the wind and rain were to blame...

Before leaving
 I had a long chat with my Mum & Dad giving them a drilling on every day up to that point! In the morning I had a choice between staying at the Hostel right at the southern end of South Uist or another Gatliff Trust one by the Howmore River, guess which one I picked! Yes the Gatliff Trust property!

We refueled the car on the way at North Uist then found our way to Martyn's house again! Another long chat with the master and a few tips and ID keys then we set off... The first place was Ardivachar, where we had a quick stop only managing 100 Sanderling...
Another "dry"spot was Lock Skipport with only a male Kestrel to show for itself. More and more Wheatears fired up from the road...
until we arrived at Howmore River...

I was very excited so went out for a walk around the bay. Several Sand Martins darted across the river, with only a few waders in sight. The freshly cut fields were filled with Lapwings, Golden Plovers and Curlew, with only 4 Black-Tailed Godwits around. After battling against the wind and rain I managed to get where the Waders were. The first being a Ringed Plover, who became my best mate...

Really like this photo...
 
My painting of it, shame about the eye...
He was a poser, and seemed to have a liking towards the paparazzi! 2 Redshanks, 50+Oystercatchers, 100+Sanderling and Ringed Plover, 10+ Ruddy Turnstone and a couple of Eiders lined the shore stretch of coastline.

The hostel had already proved successful with great sightings and views. While on the way back I spotted a Golden Plover that gave vibes of an American, because of prominent eyestripe and grey colouration...
PLEASE COMMENT WITH YOUR THOUGHTS!However, the people were just as good, maybe even better, all interesting and keen to hear me talk (for once)! A couple from Chelsea were very kind and considerate. Everyone else grew on me the following day especially...

Just over an hour after settling in one of the visitors told us there was a rainbow outside. It soon became apparent just how incredible it was...

To make matters even better this happened...

A huge flock of Lapwing had been disturbed and helped create a magnificent setting!
Thank God the snoring didn't follow...


2 comments:

  1. Another great day out , cool write up and pics , really like your Ringed Plover painting :-)

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  2. Nice Blog! I wish I knew half as much about birds as you. Hope you had a great time on the rest of your holiday. Keep it up - and the art as well :-)

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