10th September Barra
American Redstart.
Hearing news of a female American Redstart being found on Barra last Thursday got my twitching wheels in motion , i made arrangements with my good birding mate and we left at midnight on Saturday 9th September to get to Oban and catch the afternoon ferry to Barra on Sunday the 10th.
Record shot of the tail.
The weather forecast was heavy rain for Barra all day on Sunday and we would only have about an hours window to try and see it before we lost the light , well news eventually came through that the American Redstart was still present but elusive , however the main thing was it's still there.
Rather blurred flight shot.
The ferry crossing was quite pleasant with many sea birds seen including Manx & Sooty Shearwaters , Great Skua , Arctic Tern , Kittiwake , Eider & Fulmars plus a White Tailed Eagle showed well over Oban.
We arrived on Barra at 6.15pm and rushed around to Eoligarry and was soon having superb views of this quite stunning American Redstart , the weather wasn't bad either with no rain , the American Redstart was keeping loyal to a small clump of Sycamores and showed well on & off for a good 30mins before it went to roost at approx 7,30pm .
American Redstart.
Such a wonderful Island to visit (my first time to Barra) but unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the whole island this time.
The ferry back on Monday 11th was a bit more rough but another great selection of sea birds were seen , pretty much the same as yesterday with the addition of 3 Storm Petrels & 1 Arctic Skua.
7th September Oare Marshes
Osprey.
I called into Oare on Thursday 7th September to hopefully catch up with the Osprey that has been around a few days and thankfully this time i was successful.
Osprey over the East Flood.
There was the usual high selection of waders on the East flood with all the regular wader species in good numbers , i also saw 1 Bar Tailed Godwit, 2 Knot, 1 Little Ringed Plover , 1 Whimbrel plus a further 15 flying over the flood .
There was also 1 ad & 10 juv Curlew Sandpipers and the Long Billed Dowitcher was once again showing well near the road.
Long Billed Dowitcher.
Juvenile Curlew Sandpipers.
