Our daily searches for American Pipits among the piles of rotting seaweed on a Vatersay beach haven't so far yielded our target species, but we have had cracking views of Jack Snipe feeding out in the open. #BirdingScotland

Blackpoll Warbler at Glen today, a good find by Calum Scott and only the second record for Barra, a day short of a year since the first record. #BirdingScotland #RareBirdsUK

A wild day on Barra with winds touching 70, but we still went birding! A/the Great White Egret was hunkered down among the sedges at Ardmhor trying not to get blown away. Around the west side a Yellow-browed Warbler was literally still clinging on at Cuithir. #BirdingScotland

It's been a glorious day on Barra with warm sunshine and light winds for a change. The hoped for big rarity didn't materialise but there were more Redwings, Barnies and a few Whoopers on the move. The Barred Warbler at Creachan even showed quite well for once! #BirdingScotland

Barnacle Geese heading south past Barra today driven on by a strong tailwind. The same conditions also produced a small arrival of Icelandic Redwings around the island. Hopefully more birds will surface tomorrow when the wind drops. #BirdingScotland

It's always pleasing to get a fast response when reporting a ringed bird, so big thanks to Olivier Gilg for getting straight back to me about yesterdays Sanderling on Barra. Turns out it was ringed as a juvenile in a brood of 2 in NE Greenland on 28th July this year. #birdingscotland

Great White Egret at Nask this morning, surprisingly only the second record for Barra, nearly 11 years after the first. #birdingscotland

A juvenile Snow Goose among the Greylag flock on Vatersay this morning must surely have pretty decent credentials as a transatlantic vagrant, though you can never be 100% sure. Thanks to Martin Macneil for flagging up this odd goose. #birdingscotland

Mediterranean Gulls are still scarce visitors to the Outer Hebrides. This first winter at Traigh Mhor today was the first we've seen on Barra this year. #birdingscotland

A change in wind direction to a gale force south-easterly produced Barra's first Yellow-browed Warbler of the year at Cuithir. It feels like proper autumn now. #birdingscotland

It took several minutes of making pishing noises to coax out the grey shape in the undergrowth at Creachen into something identifiable: our second Barred Warbler on Barra so far this autumn. Sadly this was as good as the views got! #birdingscotland

Spurred on by finding the AGP on Vatersay, we dried our optics off and headed to the north end of Barra to check the Golden Plover flock at Eoligarry. After 10 minutes, out popped a Buff-breasted Sandpiper from behind the ragwort: the second Kathy and I have found this month. #birdingscotland

You really have to love birding a place to go do it in the rain. It was sluicing down when Kathy and I hit the south end of Vatersay today. Waterproofs, optics and ourselves utterly drenched, but the payback was finding a juv American Golden Plover, the first Vatersay record. #birdingscotland

Utterly grim weather meant seawatching from the comfort of our lounge was the order of the day and by Barra standards it was pretty good. Highlight was a house tick Sabine's Gull (no.156) plus juv Long-tailed Skua, 4 Pom Skuas, 120+ Sooty Shearwaters all flying south into the gale. #birdingscotland

Got to Castlebay just in the nick of time this afternoon to see the Glossy Ibis that put in brief appearances in the past 2 days circling away high to the north-west. The 3 previous Barra records involved 2 singles and a flock of 9. Fair chance we'll get more this autumn. #birdingscotland

Our first Redwing of the autumn was at Northbay this morning. Just as well there's a huge crop of Rowan berries on Barra this year as there will be many thousands of hungry thrushes passing through over the next two and a half months. #birdingscotland