October was mild.  While the early part of the month had dry settled days, the latter part of the month was very wet and wild at times.

The September bird notes finished with a request for the last sighting of Swallows departing south and the first sighting of Greylag Geese arriving from the north.  The latest reports for summer visitors in October were: five juvenile Swallows in Kilmory on 8^th; and two Wheatears in Kildonan on 11^th.  The first report of Greylags was seven in Sliddery on 17^th and the first report from the Shiskine Valley was of “teens” on 27^th.

In October migration continued.  Other reports, as well as the Greylag geese included: two Brent Geese briefly off Kildonan shore on 23 September; a Grey Plover on Blackwaterfoot shore on 6 October (first record since October 2007); thirty Skylark on Cleats Shore on 10^th; a Goldeneye at Loch na Leirg on 12^th; three Rook in the Shiskine Valley on 14^th; and a Great Skua in Brodick Bay on 15^th. On the very wild 25^th there was a huge movement of seabirds off Pladda including counts of three hundred Gannets per hour, nine hundred Kittiwakes per hour and three thousand Guillemots per hour.

Also, from the 8^th to 28^th October there were groups of Whooper Swans passing through including five in Kilmory on 8^th, four in Blackwaterfoot on 10^th, forty over Balnacoole on 23^rd, twenty over Sandbraes also on 23^rd and six over Shannochie on 28^th.

With the hedgerows heavy with haws and other berries, the wintering thrushes, the Redwings and Fieldfares, from the north have plenty to feed on.  There were widespread reports, with the largest mixed groups being two hundred in Lochranza on 17^th, three hundred on Lamlash Golf Course on 23^rd,  three hundred on the Heights on 26^th and two hundred in Shiskine on 31^st.

Other sightings included: a Snow Bunting on Beinn Bhreac on 5^th; twenty five Canada Geese in Brodick Bay also on 5^th; and a Moorhen at Port-na- Lochan on 6^th (first Arran report this year). Great Spotted Woodpeckers continue to spread with reports from Lamlash and Lochranza on 10^th and Catacol on 23^rd. There were also two reports of Merlin, one at Drumadoon on 8^th and one at Glenashdale burn mouth on 25^th.  This small falcon will feature in a future “Bird Notes”

Finally, at the beginning of November the Arran Black Grouse Group released forty two Black Grouse in an appropriate location.  In the released group there are thirty two males and ten females.  Five of each gender have been fitted with radio tracking devices and a post graduate student from the University of Glasgow is working with the Arran Black Grouse Group to monitor the movement of the birds.  This is part of on-going work to try to re-establish a breeding population of Black Grouse on the island.  Please report all sightings of Black Grouse to the Rangers Centre at Brodick Country Park.  If you would like to make a financial donation to this very worthwhile re-introduction programme, please visit this website:  http://arranblackgrouse.com/Donations.html .