Barra - American Redstart

After walking the West Highland Way I had planned to have a few days camping and walking in Knoydart but sadly the weather wasn't looking so good for a trip over there (wet and windy) so I headed straight back home.

After a couple of days unpacking all my walking gear and catching up with emails and laundry I decided to have a day out to Barra. While I was away walking a very rare visitor had turned up - an American Redstart which had somehow got caught up in the jet stream and been blown across the Atlantic to behind the churchyard in Barra then spotted by Bruce the resident birder there. 

I'm not much of a twitcher so I didn't particularly rush home to "get this on my list" but now that the opportunity presented itself - and a rare warm, sunny, calm day - I headed across on the ferry from Eriskay to Barra.

Had a lovely day out, spent most of the day on the hill overlooking the churchyard watching the bird and trying to get a photo which seemed to much prefer the depths of the dense bushes! The sunshine had certainly ensured plenty of insects for this North American warbler to eat.