"Wanderer from the East": To see a bird that is beautiful as well as rare is an experience not to be forgotten, not only for keen birdwatchers like myself who are constantly on the look-out for something unusual. but for anybody with an interest in wildlife. Such a bird was the Rose-coloured Starling which appeared in August in a field at Cornaig, feeding alongside other starlings, pipits and wagtails as naturally as if it were at home. Far from it though, for this handsome, jet-black and icing-sugar-pink specimen has wandered over 1,700 miles from decidedly warmer regions. This species breeds on dry, grassy steppes from Turkey and the extreme south-east of Europe across to central Asia. Flocks of birds follow locust swarms and, in some years, irrupt westwards in large numbers.

The rare vagrants occuring in the Hebrides usually come from the far North or from America so it was surprising to find this bird on Coll since it usually turns up on the east coasts of Britain. Four or five starlings are recorded in most years, so it is rare enough to attract groups of "twitchers" - bird-watchers who go to all ends to see new species, If Coll was less isolated. then it would surely have been invaded by lots of eager people clad in khaki, armed with telescopes and binoculars! Matthew Checker