Sunday 2nd September

The weather was a better than yesterday, at least it stayed dry, and looks to be settled for the week, fingers crossed... The new bird food that I purchased the other week is not being liked by the birds here, they appear to be not eating the maize, nor the millet seeds or the nyjer seeds, the nyjer seeds are a bit of a puzzle as Bob feeds them as does Martin and both say their Goldfinches eat them as if they are going out of fashion, the Goldfinches here just ignore them! There were a few Stonechats to be seen round on the whin bushes close to Coull this afternoon, a Wheatear flew across the road just past the sand pit there. Later on, a Kestrel flew across the road, just after Ballinaby. There was another family of Stonechats up close to Ardnave as well as another Wheatear. Ardnave Loch had a pair of Mute Swans with their cygnets and also a distant Mallard. Also seen at Ardnave was a group of around 45 - 50 Chough. The whole time we were out, we never saw any Hen Harriers and only one Buzzard and that was on the reserve at Gruinart. A quiet day in some ways, but it has stayed dry....