Rather a turn around in the weather with a calm night 11th/12th so no whistling and moaning in the windows, and a fine dawn promised a good day, which held to be true.
Across to Jura with Malcolm Ogilvie to do a check for Greenland White-fronted Geese. The numbers of this important sub-species, almost treated as a full species, has plummeted and we're probably only receiving 50% of what we had a decade ago. Historically birds used Jura, although not to any great extent. The regular site north of the Feolin ferry appears to have been abandoned and we could find no other birds at sites further north around Lowlandmans Bay where small numbers could sometimes be discovered. I suppose the saving grace would be that there is a surfeit of suitable habitat should the fortunes of the birds ever really escalate and the situation return to what it was previously.
Nonetheless a really enjoyable day with some nice views of birds we might expect up here and perhaps take for granted ( we put the world to rights on a few fronts too and indulged that wonderful Islay pastime of getting up to date!!! ). I bade farewell to Malcolm , who is about to go down to Antarctica, thinking he might actually end up getting better weather than we might anticipate over the next month!!!
Looked for the very probable Grey Phalarope which had been reported yesterday on the shores of Loch Indaal north of Bowmore, but without success.
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