Thursday 23rd June

James had a count of 95 Jackdaws in his garden earlier this evening, all I could do to try to match it was a Hooded Crow watching the pheasant chicks, possibly thinking of an easy meal there for the taking...Visitors had a Ring necked Duck on Loch Ballygrant today, also there were 2 Red throated Divers, 2 Little Grebe and 10 Tufted Duck. In Ballygrant Woods they had 1 Treecreeper, 2 different sightings of Spotted Flycatcher, 1 feeding young, a male Blackcap and a family group of Willow Warbler. Along near to Lily Loch, 5 Crossbills were present along with a Goldcrest. On Loch Allan, 2 Little Grebe were present while Loch na Cadhan held 2 Mute Swan and 1 Little Grebe. In the Ardnahoe area, a pair of Hen Harriers were seen, at least 2 Buzzards, 1 Mistle Thrush, pair of Whinchats, family group of Whitethroats. Back down on Loch Skerrols, 10 Tufted Duck were seen along with the pair of Mute Swans with at least 8 young. In the woods there was a pair of Bullfinches. James also reported through that he had seen Blue tailed Damsel flies hatching out today. He also commented about the Swallows that nest in the "underpass" towards Craigens, normally at this time of year the young are quite large, but this year they are only a few days old. Thinking about it the Swallows, here in our garage they are usually fledged by now, but they too are just newly hatched.