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Message: <blockquote data-quote="3Italianbirders" data-source="post: 3608056" data-attributes="member: 116922">June 16Handa IslandIt’s Handa day! The weather looks promising but rain is forecast for later on so we pack our rain gear (which has been lugged across two continents for three years without ever seeing the light), snacks and water and drive to Tarbet. The crossing is uneventful and we soon dock at Handa. After the customary briefing from the warden we set off along the trail that goes round the island. Great and Arctic Skuas are everywhere, sometimes just  a few metres from the boardwalk, sometimes in pairs, sometimes with chicks (tiny brown puffballs at this stage). We can’t decide if Arctic Skuas are more stunning in their dark morph or in the light one. Common Snipes fly past and Meadow Pipits are everywhere. We get to the cliffs and the sun is shining on the thousands of birds, perched, in flight and at sea. Among all the rest we also spot several Guillemots of the Bridled form, which we hadn’t seen before. Skuas bathe in the loch just behind us and Great Black-backed Gulls patrol the cliffs. Dark clouds are fast approaching and we start to head back towards the shelter and the landing beach. The cliffs get even more spectacular against the darkening sky. It starts to drizzle, then to pour, good thing we brought the rain gear! It’s a long, wet walk back around the western coast of the island, but we are still exhilarated by the fantastic views and sightings of the previous hours, so we really don’t mind. But we do enjoy drying up in front of a steaming cup of hot chocolate (plus requisite cake) at the dockside cafe in Tarbet.</blockquote>

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