Thurs 4th June

The present great spell of weather rolls on, I even went on the guided walk with Rory at Gruinart this morning, wearing only my shirt, no need for a jersey let alone a waistcoat. Some of the folk on the walk were wearing shorts, not that warm I thought! Rory had seen a pair of Golden Eagles defending their territory, the other day against a female Hen Harrier. James had a similar tale over at Gruinart itself of a passing Buzzard getting mobbed and attacked by another 2 Buzzards, possibly a pair, it took place over quite a while, initially in the air and then finally on the ground. It took place quite a distance from James, but he is convinced that the final outcome was that the passing bird was killed, as he did not see it fly off at the end. A sight that he had never seen before. Onto happier sightings, and James reports that he has seen several broods of both Redshank and Lapwing having successfully fledged. While out on his survey work, he has seen 2 separate Short eared Owls, while a Corncrake has been seen quite a lot recently, out in front of the Visitor Centre at Gruinart.