The weather was rather more settled this year compared with my August trip last year which was disrupted by storms that created chaos in the ferry schedules.
Nevertheless the crossing of The Minch from Uig to Lochmaddy saw brisk winds and a very choppy sea ... all the birds shot by giving very brief views ...
Kittiwakes were present in good numbers with adults looking pristine in the sunshine ...
... Fulmars on the other hand were few and far between ...
... it always amazes me how Gannets travel ... they were all around but almost all were adults with only a single jvenile on this crossing ...
... this little group of Manx Shearwaters numbered around ten birds as they moved through, appearing at all angles ...
On my first walk as I battled against the strong N wind towards the Udal peninsula, a juvenile White-tailed Eagle lifted from the dunes only 50m or so in front of me and made slow progress away ...
... a Whimbrel called briefly and flew across the bay to land on rocks ...
... while Sanderling frequented to wet sands, with many juveniles ...
... and some adults moulting out of summer plumage ...
... Ravens occupied the skies ...
From a headland near Griminish a lone summer plumage Black Guillemot bobbed among the waves ...
At Balranald Golden Plovers were mainly into winter plumage as they frequented the newly mown fields of the machair ...
... and small flocks of Starlings (of the zetlandicus race or possibly intergrades) exhibited their darker brown remnants of their juvenile plumage as they transitioned to winter plumage ...
... and similarly small finch flocks were predominantly Twite with a few Linnets in the mix ...
Most of the beaches held good numbers of Ringed Plovers of the 'Tundra type' as they continued their southern movement from their northern breeding grounds towards the south ... this form is strikingly different from the nominate race with their darker brown upperparts, thinner and shorter supercilia, thinner breast band, slighter bill and more active manner of movement ...
... among the mixed flocks of Sanderling, Ringed Plover and Turnstone a notably larger juvenile Dunlin was presumably of the alpina race ...
... this compared with the more frequent schinzii race with shorter bills ...
... the age distribution of some species was striking with a distinct lack of juvenile Oystercatchers ...
... and there were a few nominate race Ringed Plover showing paler upperparts and more pronounced supercilia and traces of summer plumage bill pattern ...
...offshore a distat adult Gannet was accompanied by an infrequent sub-adult ...
Bar-tailed Godwits were present in very small numbers and this bird appeared to be a juvenile on the basis of the more clearly defines pale borders to the scapulars and wing coverts along with notched tertials ...
... and the pale area on the inner wing resulting from moulting secondary coverts is a feature I see more often on Black-backed Gulls ...
Common Gulls were more numerous and this group included an adult showing white primary tips along with some juveniles moulting into first winter having replaced some juvenile scapulars ...
... and one still in juvenile plumage ...
On Loch na Reivil near Balranald a couple of Tufted Ducks were revealed to be juveniles with their all dark grey bills ...
... and a nice smart Little Grebe still in breeding plumage ...
... among more Common Gulls, a second winter bird showing all black primary tips and a strong dark bill band ...
... and just for pure beauty an adult summer male Lapwing ...
On the return crossing of The Minch the wind was much more benign allowing better views and Common Guillemots were present in numbers ... some adults with a chick and some birds well into winter plumage ...
... and an adult of the more frequent bridled form in these northern latitudes along with its chick ...
... following on from four Arctic Skuas and six Manx Shearwaters a single Sooty Shearwater powered through and made a dramatic tower ... all of this action evaded the camera but sometimes it's better just to watch and absorb the action ...
this nice juvenile Kittiwake sailed by more slowly ...
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