Trip reports

24 MARCH 2007 - BUTE

Thursday, 4 October 2007

On 24 March 2007, 17 members of the Group (in a mini bus and one car) paid a visit to the Isle of Bute. Yet again the weather looked promising and we were rewarded with a sunny spring day. Unfortunately, those in the mini bus just failed to catch the planned ferry and we had to wait for the next one. However, we were rewarded with good views of black guillemots and, for some, a close in-shore red-throated diver. The bacon butties also went down well!

The trip to Rothesay was uneventful apart from a few razorbills and guillemots. As soon as we got ashore we quickly headed for Church Lane and, we hoped, the famous black-throated thrush that has taken up residence in a walled garden since January 2007 at least. The good news was that it was still there - as reported by a kind local who regularly fed it - the bad news was that it decided not to put in an appearance for us. So after waiting for around 90 minutes and getting good views of common birds including a song thrush, that got some of us excited for a minute or two, we decided it was time to explore the island; after all it was a trip to Bute not Rothesay!

We concentrated on the southern half of the island and in the end saw over 50 species of bird. From various car parks and viewpoints highlights included wildfowl such as white-fronted geese, greylag geese (vast rafts on the sea), wigeon and teal; waders such as lapwing, redshank, curlew and oystercatcher; raptors - all buzzards apart for one kestrel; corvids including raven and some beautiful brown hares and a solitary roe deer.

We also spent some time on a circular moorland walk - there are many signposted walks on Bute but we only had time for one of them. This resulted in red faces and tired limbs but only a few species of bird but it was good to see 10+ skylarks feeding and displaying together. The most unusual sighting involved lots of common toads, some clearly aware that it was now spring!

Soon it was time to head back for Rothesay for a quick fish supper and our ferry home. As we sailed back to Wemyss Bay we were treated to a wonderful sunset - a fitting finale to a great day.

Thanks go to Alan Hill for organising the trip and undertaking the driving.

Report by Jim Coyle.