Sunday 4 February 2018

Sunday 4th February

Yesterday was the start of a week's visit to Islay by Matt Bruce who along with his friends were the  winners of a holiday in a cottage provided by www.islaycottages.com  and our ferry provider, Calmac giving them tickets to match. On the ferry crossing over to Port Askaig, they had seen 14 GND, 2 RTD, a Tystie, 9 R b Merganser, a few Kittiwakes and 4 Long tailed Ducks. Up at Bunnahabhain, they saw 2 Buzzards having a tussle with a Raven, and also distant views of a Golden Eagle over Jura. Later on, on their way to Bowmore they had a Barn Owl hunting along the verge. They also had a field of around 60 Whitefronts as the light was starting to fail.
This morning, Peter and Pia had seen the Glaucous Gull down on Machir Bay, also present were 45 Ringed Plover and 40 Oystercatcher. This afternoon, James had  a Merlin on the reserve at Gruinart. He also had 2 ringtail Hen Harriers, one at Gruinart and one just after the junction leading   to Sanaigmore, just after the telephone box below Carnduncan. This morning, we had over  30 Goldfinch in at the feeders, great to see and then later on a ringtail Hen Harrier, less than 10 metres away, down close to the Coastguards, right place, right time!!! We also saw another one fly past James's kitchen window while we were in having a cuppa...

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