Wild Swans And Geese
One of the reasons for going to Islay in late Autumn is to marvel at the thousands of Geese and enjoy the passage of Whooper Swans. As this was our 108th visit we have seen it all before but it was just as exciting as our first visit in 1976. In fact it is even better now because there are Sea Eagles trying to catch the Geese. One morning we encountered five Eagles and I would expect that within a couple of years Islay will be better for seeing Eagles than Mull.
Enjoy the passage of Whooper Swans in this weeks gallery. Click here
Generally in wildlife encounters there are no second chances. Thirty years ago, in the Sound of Islay, I filmed an Otter as it came ashore with an Octopus in its mouth. Unfortunately I did not have a clear view of the feed so there was no lasting photo to remember it by. All that changed recently when I watched an Otter come ashore struggling to hold onto an Octopus which it shared with its young. Enjoy this weeks gallery as its unlikely to ever happen to me again! 
For only the third time in the last fifty years our garden was visited last week by a Grey Wagtail. It was a female with a difference – it had a white forked tail! What produced this unusual plumage is not clear but at least it will be readily recognisable should it return. 
While in Yorkshire the other week filming the Hoopoe I took the opportunity to see another new bird for me in the form of the Spoonbill. Young had fledged at a nearby lake and i soon caught up with a fledged young and an adult. I was told by a passing local birdwatcher that young Spoonbills are called Teaspoons! When I got home I checked all my bird-books and could find no reference to young Spoonbills being called teaspoons. However the computer came to the rescue and confirmed that young Spoonbills, usually when they are still in the nest, are in fact called Teaspoons as their bills are not as developed as the adults! 
To me the most exciting and challenging migrant of Autumn is the Jack Snipe. It becomes quite easy to encounter Redwings and Fieldfares but to come face to face with a Jack Snipe is a different ball-game.This Autumn I found my first on the 9th October and up to yesterday I have seen 26 – only one of which froze at my feet and gave me good views. 
Who would have thought that I would ever spend an hour on a Cricket pitch in Yorkshire photographing a bird that I had never seen before but that is what happened last week. The spectacular bird involved was a Hoopoe, that should have been in Spain, but for some reason decided the grubs in a Yorkshire cricket pitch were more to its liking. It had been there a week before I decided to go and I would have stayed longer than an hour but social distancing was becoming a problem with more than fifty people on the pitch so I left. The Hoopoe must have felt the same for it also left the next day! It was certainly a spectacular subject and it must have been a bonus for the cricket club as it disposed of grubs at one a minute!