After a bad night I set off northwards intent on trying to make something positive of the day. And then came the next difficulty! I received a call from Caledonian MacBrayne advising that the 1800 hours ferry had been cancelled, but a sailing had been arranged for 1530 hours. This required arriving by 1500 hours which put serious pressure on my time budget. Clearly the Snow Goose option had to be jettisoned! So, with a deal of focussing and upping my average speed, I carried on and actually managed to complete a shop and not miss the ferry either!
It was interesting to see that numbers of both Barnacle and Greenland White-fronted Geese remained on Islay, particularly after not encountering wintering geese in Norfolk. Little opportunity arose to see much else and so the usual domestic activity pattern locked in once I got home. It had been a good time away, but marred by the emergent news at the very end of the period.
I've now spent the last few days picking up on various events, dealing with E-mails and so on. Birding has been limited , but a couple of Northern Wheatears at home on the 3rd were new. Not having had WiFi access whilst I was away I finally had the opportunity to look at the Government's response to the E-petition relating to Licensing of upland grouse moors and gamekeepers, which had appeared on the Web site whilst I was away. I'm appalled at the ineptitude surrounding the response and , after relaxed consideration at several points, I've resolved to pursue the matter further. I'll be putting out a short definitive summary linked to this intention and then keeping people updated as things move forward. I'm trying to avoid banging on about the matter but, as you might imagine, I am less than pleased , impressed or satisfied with the response received, robustly which will be contested.
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