Around Barra... 19th August 2014

Hi, we had a great night in the hostel, it acted like a Hotel! Very kind people, so had a great night.
Today was just finding our way round the place, and exploring a few beaches and areas that look the most promising as it's very underwatched...

While driving round the coast (it being rather rugged and rocky) we found a few Curlews and Redshank with maybe 1 Oystercatcher. The Gulls weren't that interesting with with mainly Herrings and a peppering of Black-Heads in between. Due to the lack of birds adding excitement I decided to play with my new toy, so to speak! With only a few Gulls to "play" with I tried to make one of the shots moody by putting the mode onto manual, here is one of the "concepts"...

After that we decided to check out one of the plantations, foolishly I said that Autumn migration hasn't kicked off fully yet. Which is true, but you still never know! After going past the airport which had a special visitor...

 

We were well on our way to the far south of the island. Due to my Dad being interested in agriculture I decided to take a photo of a nice Beef Shorthorn Bull

I've always loved knowing different species or breeds in this case that may have been the main reason for getting into birding, knowing that there is much more to find than first anticipated. The first beach we came across proved to be one of the biggest roosts on the island

Yeah, not much but still not common where I live! A small wader caught my on the beach quick look

turned into a nice moulting Sanderling. While birdwatching we met some really nice people that were doing the same thing as us! After having a chat we went even further down the road right to the point. Just as we were complaining about the lack of birds, boom! A female Merlin was spotted on the telephone wires...

Soon after turning round we spotted the male...

This was a lovely couple and were obviously in love...

Fantastic birds even managed to watch one of them hunt! After watching all that action we decided to check the beach out again and were met with a nice flock of waders on the rocks...

I'd say they were Bar-Tails. So a nice flock of around 25. Just after the quick stroll I spotted a yellow bird on a rock. As usual I just stared and thought, it flew off... For me it could have easily been a Yellow Wagtail. Now I am in mourning of that big mistake! Following on from that tantrum I managed to spot a Harbour Porpoise out in the bay and a Black-Throated Diver! So another great day, will the streak never end...