A normal commute home from work on Thursday 7th September quickly turned to chaos when Simon Slade called; American Redstart on Barra. Holy crap. No question as to whether we were going for the first potentially twitchable 'Yankstart' since 1983. Many phonecalls later we had a plan, with planes and direct ferries quickly ruled-out for various reasons we had to go the long way around. So at 10pm Simon, Al Orton, Malc C and I set off north, finally arriving at Uig 8.5 hours later just as light arrived. We were soon joined by 10 or so other carloads for the 9.30 ferry to Lochmaddy on North Uist. The crossing was enlivened by a fine Scottish breakfast, multiple storm petrels, 2 Leach's petrels, a grey phalarope and the usual auks, kittiwakes and Manx shearwaters.
Arriving on Uist we had just enough time to get to the far south for the Barra ferry. Whacky races commenced, but my not so trusty Evoque caused a near accident when safety mode kicked in as I'd hit the accelorator too hard. More pressure. Thankfully we arrived with a few minutes to spare and joined 30 other birders as foot passengers. Steve Nutall had arranged a bus and we were soon at Eoligarry church sycamores. The bird showed briefly taking the initial pressure off, but it was a couple of hours before we were treated to the hoped-for crippling views in evening sunshine.
AMERICAN REDSTART OML!! Always great to see a new American warbler in the UK. Magical.
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| It's a long old way to Barra. Good company and laughs though. |
Job done. A cracking bird. We took the return ferry to South Uist at 5.30 and had an exhausted celebration meal and a few beers in the Lochmaddy Hotel. Next morning we were back on the ferry to Uig, which provided a black-throated diver, more storm petrels, bonxies and a single Arctic skua, along with a superb White-tailed eagle as we came into dock.
The drive home was slow but brightened by marvelous scenery and the warm glow of success. However news of a birders' plane crashing as it took off was very sobering. Thankfully Adam Archer and fellow passengers were ok, but incredibly lucky to be. This stuff is really not to be messed with.
