Yesterday evening, a couple of visiting birders from Hampshire had seen a Red Grouse along with 5 young when they were out checking what was present around Loch Gorm, that was before the rain came on! Yes, we already have had more rain so far this month than we had in total for May and June together. The sun is shining outside at present and it was nice this afternoon. Our visitors had also seen the Spotted Flycatcher here in the wood too.
George had 11 Arctic Terns down at Bruichladdich today including a few juvenile birds. He also noted that some of the adult birds were retuning with some sprats to feed the others. On the shoreline with Loch Indaal, George had 5 Ringed Plover and at 5am this morning there were 6 Oystercatcher calling away. Later on in his garden, he had a Whitethroat, a Greenfinch (the first for a long time) and a Redpoll. Last night George had heard a Whimbrel calling. Someone in Bruichladdich had been telling George of seeing a young Cuckoo out. Thankfully the Cuckoo has stopped calling here at home! George also had a dead jellyfish down on the beach.
1 comment:
Grouse would be a valuable confirmed breeding record for the Bird Atlas, no grouse has yet been recorded in the whole 10km square (NR26): http://blx1.bto.org/atlas-results/allocisla.html#ref (click on Red Grouse). Atlas coverage on Islay is generally looking much better now (incidentally I have just spent my summer hols chipping away at areas in the south*) but still a lot to do to improve it and confirmed breeding records particularly valuable.
Stephen
* http://sedgewarbler.blogspot.com/2010/07/islay-2-10-july.html
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