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One day our luck with the weather for the Argyll Bird Club field trip to the Sound of Gigha had to run out and from the conditions in the morning this looked to be the day! However, despite the steady rain first thing at least 22 members and friends turned up at the car park at Ronachan.
This year we were too early for the newly arrived Willow Warblers that are usually singing here and one could hardly blame them! It was difficult to see anything much through the rain but one Great Northern Diver (probably first winter) obligingly came close enough to the shore for us all to get reasonable views of it.
Otherwise the odd Rock Pipit was hopping about on the shore and some gulls and the usual Shags and Red-breasted Mergansers were around the offshore rocks. The only waders noted were a pair of Oystercatchers. In view of the weather we decided to move on early to our next stop.
Conditions at ‘West Coast Salmon’ were not a great deal better - if anything the rain was heavier! There were plenty of birds about including Redshank, Great Northern Divers, Slavonian Grebes, Long-tailed Duck and Common Scoters but it was very difficult to get reasonable views. At this point a few people decided to call it a day but as the forecast was for things to improve later in the day most of us decide to stick it out.
Mercifully Katie Pendreigh kindly offered to provide her refreshment break early so that we could shelter from the rain for a bit. So, not long afterwards, an almost unfeasibly large number of people crammed into Katie’s house. We all relaxed in the dry at last and really appreciated a hot drink with cake and biscuits. A beautiful male Reed Bunting appeared, on cue, just outside the window.
Time passed amazingly quickly as we chattered away and it was soon time to catch for the 12:00 ferry to Gigha. As well as the continuing rain, the wind was now increasing and a Raven flying over as we walked from Katie’s house appeared to moving diagonally! Not surprisingly, most people stayed in the saloon during the rather choppy crossing. For the few who braved the weather there were good sightings of Great Northern Divers, Common Scoters and a group 5 of auks – almost certainly Common Guillemots.
As we reached Gigha the island provided shelter from the wind and the rain began to ease off a little. As we walked to the hotel it was actually possible to see a few birds and Katie Pendreigh soon spotted what, for most of us, was the first Swallow of the year. There have been a few early sightings in Argyll this year, including at least two in late March. We also picked up a good variety of other commoner species on the island (see species list below).
During our lunch break an interesting discussion developed over the subject of the crow family. Despite their almost universally bad reputation I have always rather admired Rooks, Ravens and even Hooded Crows – what would we do without them to clear up the mess from road kills etc.? And , of course, I think Magpies are quite beautiful birds. Research has shown that the widely held view that the latter are responsible for the fall in numbers of common garden birds is largely unfounded. I was delighted to find that several people present were of the same mind and we are now thinking of starting a ‘corvid appreciation group’!… As always the Gigha Hotel did us proud at lunch time and by the time we left the weather had cleared at last: no more rain and even the wind had dropped.
Before catching the ferry back we walked down a footpath to the beach south of the ferry terminal, flushing a Common Snipe on the way. Here we picked up Red-breasted Mergansers, two more Slavonian Grebes, a group of Turnstone with what were almost certainly a couple of Dunlin. A group of 5 waders circled overhead. The four larger birds were obviously Curlews but the smaller wader with them could have been a Bar-tailed Godwit or even a Whimbrel. Ian Hopkins and Dougie Menzies decided to stay here for a bit and catch the later ferry. They caught up with us later and told us we had missed three Sandwich Terns and a flock of at least 50 Kittiwakes.
The rest of us caught the 2.30p.m. ferry back and with better weather were able to stay out on deck. This was just as well as we had a very rewarding ferry journey. As well as the usual Common Eiders, Red-breasted Mergansers, Gannets, gulls (including a Lesser Black-back) and Black Guillemots we had very good views of Common Scoters both on the water and in flight and, best of all, four magnificent male Long-tailed Ducks very close to the boat. Despite the pitching of the ferry and fact that the birds were constantly bobbing up and down in the waves David Palmar managed to get some wonderful photos of both the Scoters and the Long-tailed Ducks.
In the fields at Tayinloan a nice mixed flock of crows included Jackdaws, Hooded Crows Carrion Crows, and Rooks (but sadly no Magpies!). We had decided to go back to ‘West Coast Salmon’ to see if we could catch up with some of birds we hardly managed to see earlier in the day. On the way back up the main road we saw a flock of mixed geese in one their usual feeding fields and some of us stopped to take photographs. At ‘West Coast Salmon’ we were looking at the photographs Danielle Clark had taken, to check that both Greylag and Greenland White-fronted Geese were present when we saw that one of them was neither species. It was in fact a Pink-footed Goose and there was at least one more there. When David Palmar arrived we looked at his photos and could see that there were at least 4 Pink-footed Geese. Fortunately Richard Allan had thought to count the geese and had come up with 40+ Greylags, 150+ White-fronts and no less than 5 Pink-footed Geese! In better viewing conditions (despite a cold wind) we had good sightings of Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Scoters, Shags and Slavonian Grebes. One of the Scoters appeared to have a small white patch by the eye and was probably a Velvet Scoter: although just too far out to be certain.
The 9 members from Cowal and Bute who took the 17.15 ferry from Tarbert got rewarded with a 'feeding frenzy' (birds that is, not club members) just before the ferry reached Portavadie and among the many gulls, over 100 Kittiwakes and some gannets was a 1st winter Iceland Gull.
So, despite a very unpromising start we had quite a successful day in all. At least 53 species in all – see list below. As always, many thanks are due to Katie for kindly providing the refreshments for such a large group and for the fortitude of members in sticking with it despite the dreadful conditions early on!
BTO Code |
Species |
ND |
Great Northern Diver |
SZ |
Slavonian Grebe |
GX |
Northern Gannet |
CA |
Great Cormorant |
SA |
Shag |
H |
Grey Heron |
MS |
Mute Swan |
PG |
Pink-footed Goose |
NW |
Greenland White-fronted Goose |
GJ |
Greylag Goose |
SU |
Common Shelduck |
MA |
Mallard |
E |
Common Eider |
LN |
Long-tailed Duck |
CX |
Common Scoter |
VS |
Velvet Scoter ??? |
RM |
Red-breasted Merganser |
BZ |
Common Buzzard |
PH |
Common Pheasant |
OC |
Oystercatcher |
DN |
Dunlin ??? |
SN |
Common Snipe |
BA |
Bar-tailed Godwit ??? |
CU |
Eurasian Curlew |
TT |
Turnstone |
BH |
Black-headed Gull |
CM |
Common Gull |
LB |
Lesser Black-backed Gull |
HG |
Herring Gull |
GB |
Great Black-backed Gull |
KI |
Kittiwake |
TE |
Sandwich Tern |
GU |
Common Guillemot |
TY |
Black Guillemot |
SL |
Barn Swallow |
MP |
Meadow Pipit |
RC |
Rock Pipit |
PW |
Pied Wagtail |
WR |
Wren |
D |
Dunnock |
R |
Robin |
B |
Blackbird |
BT |
Blue Tit |
GT |
Great Tit |
CT |
Coal Tit |
RO |
Rook |
C |
Carrion Crow |
HC |
Hooded Crow |
RN |
Common Raven |
SG |
Common Starling |
HS |
House Sparrow |
CH |
Common Chaffinch |
GR |
Greenfinch |
GO |
Goldfinch |
RB |
Reed Bunting |
RK |
Redshank |
IG |
Iceland Gull |
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