Friday 25th February

You can believe spring is on its way there is a smell to the air (could be muck spreading) and the first skylarks are singing today at the reserve. Yesterday a goose count on the reserve at Gruinart revealed 6449 barnacle geese, 273 white fronted geese, 68 greylag geese and 1 Canada goose (small hutchinsii). I also spotted a female hen harrier, a peregrine, and 4 whooper swans. At Ardnave 21 chough, 102 oystercatchers, 37 ringed plovers, 7 great northern divers, 1 black throated diver, 57 twite and 16 whooper swans were reported by Mark and Jamie. They also reported 150 starlings I wonder if these are the starlings that seem to have disappeared from Gruinart farm buildings.