Mon 5th May

Some sightings from through the weekend to get you all started...
George had 30 Whimbrel down at Wester Ellister on Saturday, and heard a Cuckoo at Portnahaven also on Saturday. There was a Great Northern Diver as well as a Razorbill just off thwe pier at Bruichladdich this morning. GJ
Michael Coppleston, who works with RSPB here on Islay had a reported sighting of a Swift over Ardnave Point on Saturday by a visiting birder.
Dave Sexton, the Mull Officer for RSPB, sent me an e mail today with details of the White tailed Sea Eagle that Donald James MacPhee had seen at the end of March. The bird had yellow wing tags, with the letter P on them. Dave confirmed that it was indeed a Mull bird born in 2006, with a bit of history behind it! He (yellow P) and his brother yellow G fell out of their nest when it was blown off the cliff face one night in a gale when they were about 7 weeks old. They fell about 80 feet to the ground, though probably glided a bit, as they could not fly. Luckily a visitor had been watching them in the nest the previous day before the storm, and checked the next day to see that the nest had gone. Dave checked and found the 2 chicks on the ground, looking rather wet and bedraggled. One of the chicks was actually standing under a small waterfall and was very hypothermic, but otherwise they seemed uninjured. A team of RSPB, police and volunteers quickly dried them off, warmed them up and built them a new nest. When Dave and his team felt the chicks were recovered enough, they were placed in their new nest with a supply of food to get them going.
The new nest site was watched from afar for the next few weeks with the adult birds feeding the young, with the youngsters fledging naturally. Obviously, yellow P was seen here on Islay back in March, while yellow G, his brother was seen on Mull during this winter, so they are both surviving yet
Many thanks to Dave for this information and the tale of it falling out of nest.