September is nearly always a good month for birds with our summer migrants returning to their winter quarters; to be replaced by our own winter visitors. This coming and going results in a good mix of species including passage and vagrant birds, so you never quite know what will turn up.
So probably not surprisingly three new species were added this week. The first was a Snow Goose with a flock of thirty-five Greylag Geese in Strongorm Fields, seen from Cnoc Mhor. This bird was probably a vagrant from introductions that have taken place on Mull and Coll over the past years.
The second was a Great Spotted Woodpecker which flew into the top of a conifer tree on Cnoc Mhor and finally a Mistle Thrush which was sat on top of a electricity post close to five Redwings on the wires, also seen from Cnoc Mhor.
The Great Spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush both resident breeding species on the mainland do not occur regularly on the island so both were interesting finds. It may be that the Mistle Thrush was accompanying the Redwings which have just arrived from Scandinavia to escape the long hard winter. Other migrant thrushes such as Blackbirds, Fieldfares and Song Thrushes also join our resident birds to compete for food through autumn, winter and early spring.