Monday 15th February

George E Jackson sent me through an e mail earlier on today and I have gleaned some of the birds seen by him as follows

"On Friday morning I ventured down to Machir Bay; there were 3 Mistle Thrushes which were joined by a single Lapwing on the grassy area. First Mistle Thrushes I've seen for a good while. Nothing else except a small number of forlorn looking gulls. 

Back at Coultorsay, in the garden the Blackbirds have continued tucking into the apples - probably 10 to 12 altogether. A small number of Robins and Great Tits, one Coal Tit, one Blue Tit and a single Goldcrest been on the feeders (which were swinging nearly horizontal at times); the weather seems to have dampened the Starlings nest prospecting for the present."

 

Sunday 8thNovember

 Last night, Dave Pierce sent through the following e mail to me with the birds seen by him...

"Amongst others on Loch Indaal, 61 Common Scoter and 5 Long-tailed Ducks (4 male, 1 female).

A Golden Eagle (the light was against me but appeared a juvenile) on a deer fence post for a good deal of the morning at Druim na h-Erasaid immediately south of the Gruinart flats. Early afternoon, an adult Goldie circled over the flats & floods causing consternation with the waterfowl and waders. With waders, there were 5 Grey Plover.

 Shortly after the first of 2 Hen Harriers sightings occurred, with a brown quartering low over the floods, whilst a grey was hunting at Ardnave a little later. 

Also at Ardnave were 18 Fieldfares, 20+ Choughs with 2 Long-tailed Ducks on the loch (both females, I'd had a male & female on Wednesday). 

Finally a juvenile White-tailed Eagle late afternoon at Gruinart was a great finish to the day for me, if not for the assembled geese!"

 Dan Brown had seen the following birds when out and about yesterday..  

"A Todd's type (possibly 2) and a Cackling goose on the flats. We also had a Great Spotted Woodpecker clearly migrating west along the flats at Gruinart. It got "stuck" when it got to us and the end of the trees but finally plucked up the courage and headed on West to the farm.

2 Merlins, 2 Peregrines and 2 Hen Harriers here too."

Peter was in touch today, reporting through to tell me that the American Wigeon was seen today at Loch Skerolls, but he also told me that the number of Whoopers present has dropped down to around 50 in total present  there.

The back of lunchtime up here today, and we were well pleased to see a cracking male Hen Harrier out on the wing flying along the bottom of the crag. We now have a smalll resident group of 10 Blackbirds were out on the grass as well as 7 Redwings.

The Bolton Birders also had been seeing 10 Blackbirds this morning down in Port Charlotte and also 5 Blackcaps. Over on Jura, earlier on through the week, they had seen a total of  4 Eagles when over there, their Eagles were 3 WTEs and a Golden Eagle. Down at Curie sands they had seen 12 Choughs rooting around looking for some food.

I was speakng to James earlier on this afternoon, and he was saying about the number of Eagles being seen here on Islay. He also was commenting on the Choughs being seen in different places this Autumn. Today, James had spotted a Pink footed Goose as well as 2 P b Brents amongst the Barnies seen over at Gruinart. In his garden, James has had a regular Goldcrest visiting his garden most days recently. 

Tuesday 27th October

 Rather cool outside today, so probably the reason for an early entry..

Mike Bell is back over for his annual Islay fix, he came over yesterday on the ferry leaving Kennacraig at 13.00, so here are some birds that he had seen yesterday...  "Not the nicest day for travelling.  3 Tysties in the Sound of Islay. The Golden  Eagle showed well, initially at Rockside 4.15 pm then c.5 pm appeared behind the cottage with a Pheasant and flew off south up the burn."

Neil McMahon and the team from Naturetrek had seen the following birds etc when out....

"We spent some time at Bowmore this morning in an effort to espy the Rose-coloured Starling but no joy. Three GN Divers flew south quite high over the village and a light passage of finches south included a single calling Tree Sparrow quite high up! Either it's the Gruinart bird or as a species they are on the move! One or two Sparrowhawk(s) were trying their luck with the Starlings and the female Long-tailed Duck was still present. On our drive from Bowmore to Bridgend there was a small gaggle of Pale-bellied Brents on the shores of Loch Indaal and a flying immature White-tailed Eagle that veered off south. 

At Port Askaig, (overlooking the Sound of Islay) we saw a Gannet, 12 Kittiwakes, a light passage of Eiders, a Sparrowhawk and a distant White-tailed Eagle. Jura was similarly wind-blasted as Islay and we failed to see any Otters. There were 6 Great Northern Divers (five adults) at Craighouse plus 2 Black Guillemots and 2 Long-tailed Ducks. Small birds in the trees/bushes included a Siskin, Coal, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests. A Grey Wagtail and several Rock Pipits were around the beach and burn outlets. An adult male Hen Harrier was seen briefly at Feolin."

Dan Brown, one of the film camera men who are over until mid November had been out and about too..

I  forgot to mention a female Goosander at the mouth of the Laggan river on 24th October.

I have a few more sightings from yesterday afternoon including:

juv Iceland Gull and adult Sabine's Gull on the west side of Gruinart Estuary

Green-winged Teal and Wood Sandpiper on the floods at the RSPB reserve,

Brambling with the Chaffinches west of Sunderland Farm.

Steve Percival had a Cackling Goose on the flats and then at Grainel.

Mid morning I received this e mail through from Dan,

Today there’s a drake American Wigeon on Loch Skerrols and Snow Bunting at Smelly Corner (Carnain). 

 

Sunday 25th October

Back on Friday, Steve Percival caught and rung another 79 Barnies down at Smelly Corner.....                "It was 2 January 1987 before we had a successful catch of Barnacle Geese on Islay. Under the stewardship of Malcom Ogilvie, we caught 302, a total for a single catch that still remains unbeaten! He helped train me, together with the Durham University cannon-netting team headed by Peter Evans, and a  few years later I had my own cannon-netting licence. In February 1989 my wife-to-be Tracey joined the team and we’ve never looked back. 33 years later we’ve now ringed over 3,500 Barnacle Geese on Islay. We are now also ably assisted by our 2 girls, Emily and Lucy, who have grown up with October and February half-term goose-catching trips to Islay".

The other day, George E. Jackson had seen a flock of over 50 Chaffinches in the bushes down at Aoradh cottage which the wee cottage on the roadside just at the foot of the road leading up to Rockside and Kilchoman Distillery.

Yesterday had been Richard Belter's last day of this present visit, so thanks to Richard for sending in his sightings of birds seen by him when he has been over. Yesterday morning, Richard saw a Barn Owl at first light along the Gruinart flats. Down at Claddach, he had a passage of Gannets and some Auks as well. Finally in at Loch Skerrols, he saw the Whooper Swans that are present there. 

I received an e mail through from the Naturetrek group led by Neil McMahon who are over at present with their sightings of various birds seen by them yesterday.. 

"A female Long-tailed Duck and a Black Guillemot were around the pier and breakwater at Bowmore this morning plus the usual Rb Mergansers, a few Eider and a Goldeneye. A nice flock of Ringed Plovers and Dunlin have roosted on the breakwater at high tide the last two days. 

We looked down on Loch Skerrols from the road that leads to Scarrabus and saw nearly 100 Whooper Swans plus some Mute Swans on the water plus good numbers of Tufted Ducks and Wigeon. 1-2 Sparrowhawk(s) showed interest in a flock of ca100 Chaffinches in a stubble field which also contained at least a Skylark. A very windy north shore of Loch Indaal attracted a small flock of Knot and a Bar-tailed Godwit.

We spent the rest of the day at Loch Gruinart where the group fully enjoyed the amazing spectacle of thousands of Barnacle Geese and much smaller numbers of Greenland White-fronts, Greylags and a couple of families of Whooper Swans. Didn't see the Wood Sandpiper but there was a Black-tailed Godwit from North Hide and Roe Deer, a flock of Pintail and distant Bar-tailed Godwits from South Hide. The woodland trail sheltered at least 3 Goldcrests and we heard Bullfinch. A Tree Sparrow flying around the barns at the farm was a surprise! The road through Gruinart Flats was good for 200 Golden Plovers, Stonechats and 3 Lesser Redpolls.

The track on the east side of the loch provided us with a first calendar year White-tailed Eagle, a 'ringtail' Hen Harrier, 3 Goldeneye and 5 Greenshanks. A stubble field on this side contained a few Yellowhammers and up to a dozen Skylarks. A flock of ca40 Linnets flew through and a Roe Deer was present too."

James was in touch with some birds seen by himself, he had counted 257 Barwits, 16 Grey Plover and also 37 Knot yesterday. This afternoon, he had a male Hen Harrier seen close to An Sithean on the edge of the reserve as you head down towards Loch Gorm

Sunday 20th September

 Dave Wood sent through some birds seen by him down on the RSPB reserve on the Oa today...

"Male Redstart on the reserve today. 8+Goldcrests and several migrant Robins also knocking about."

I read with interest the Fair Isle Observatory blog, and notice that on Friday the fund in place has risen to just short of £185,000, so keep sending the money through for a great cause.

Sunday 21st June

James was in touch this afternoon with some birds and a general natter as well...
The other day up at Ardnave, James had counted 80 Barwits and also an Otter was present there as well. James was saying to me that along the Woodland trail at Gruinart, he had heard 2 Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff calling away as well as  3 Goldcrests seen there.

Malcom e mailed me part of an article that was in today's edition of The Times, relating to the recent series screened on the TV of Springwatch..
" Now that Springwatch has been forced to abandon its distracting and cringe-inducing campfire repartee, it has evolved into the fascinating programme that it always ought to have been. Great to see that Chris Packham has been transformed into an adult. Please keep this format".

Thursday 4th June

Peter e mailed some sightings ....


"There has been a recent unconfirmed report of a Nuthatch at Bunnahabhain, This would be a first for Islay, so I popped down there to look for it – no luck. There were 8 Black Guillemots in the bay and a lovely Otter fishing just off the pier. Grey Wagtails, Spotted Flycatchers and Goldcrests all present and looking as if they are breeding. I went for a walk to Lily Loch and the deciduous woodland there to see if the nuthatch may have moved to thicker cover, but couldn’t find anything. However, there was a lovely Great Spotted Woodpecker on dead trees around the loch – interesting that the species still seems to be here as it was the first site for suspected breeding on Islay a few years back."

Tuesday 26th May

Good friend, Karen Graham from Bearsden was in touch earlier on this evening...

"Making tea and tiny male Goldcrest on back door harling. Looking back it was early April when last spotted one in exactly same place. Must still be a nest around.

Very warm this afternoon and more to come. Family of Starlings including 4 youngsters enjoying a bath too."

Just been watching "Springwatch" on the TV, the first program of the current series, and personally, I thought that it was a lot better program than some seen in other series... no stupidity between the presenters!!!!

Sunday 12th April

James was in touch today. Today, he saw 4 Wheatears seen out from Mill Cottage, and then yesterday in his garden he had 2 Willow Warbler, a Redpoll, a Goldcrest and also a Sparrowhawk.

Gary had sent me through some sightings
"Some birds from today, on Loch Finlaggan. 17 Tufted Duck, 5 Mallard, 1 Mute Swan, 1 Whooper Swan, 1 Red throated Diver.  7 Common Crossbill were present in trees at the house."

Saturday 7th March

A final e mail  from "The Rochdale Birders" with some birds seen over the past few days seen when over here for this visit...
"13 Crossbills at Finlaggan around the house garden, 1 Goldcrest  at Avenvogie, a Female Hen Harrier at Gruinart and also 5 Hares seen boxing at Port Charlotte"

Gary e mailed some sightings seen by himself yesterday....
" Over at Bunnahabhain all three divers, 7 Great Northern, 2 Red throated & 1 Black throated Divers.
Also 7 Common Crossbill in the fir trees."

Friday 21st February

Mike and Lesley's report through for you  to appreciate...

"We had a great morning at Gruinart yesterday. The sun brought out the birds on the woodland trail so it was nice to record Long-tailed Tit,  Goldcrest and Treecreeper. From the hide there were plenty of the usual ducks, Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler, Pintail plus lots of Curlew and a single Greenshank.

There were a couple of Oystercatchers feeding right in front of the hide when a female Sparrowhawk came hurtling towards one but just missed one and then sat on a fence post right next to the hide for a while. A distant Golden Eagle sitting on top of the hill, before we noticed 2 hunting juvenile White-tailed Eagles on of which downed a Barnacle Goose and began to eat the poor thing while it was still alive!  A very dramatic morning!"

Chris Corrigan's birds were as follows

"The best place today was the back road between Blackpark and Gruinart (B8017). Wonderful views of 2 Golden Eagles north of Lyrabus in the morning and a briefer view of a roadside Merlin in the afternoon. 

33 Pale-bellied Brent Geese at Carnain late afternoon.

We also got a free exfoliation beauty treatment courtesy of a horrible driving hail shower!!!"

Garry and Wendy had made to most of yesterday

"What a change to have some bright sunshine. We walked from Ballygrant, up past Lossit Farm to Islay Sound. Our sightings for the day:
Carnain: Barnies, Greylags, Oystercatchers, Curlew, Mute Swans
Loch Lossit: Tufted Ducks
Flanks of Beinn Dubh: Herd of Red Deer
Traigh Bhan: White tailed  Eagle, GN Diver, and 11 Grey Seals"

John Matthews and his friends "The Port Ellen 4", headed home yesterday, but they had sent their final entry for this visit...

"I'm now safety back home after a 7.5h drive.  

Anyway, on our drive to Port Askaig this morning via the back road to Ballygrant we saw another superb male Merlin sitting on a fence post about 1 mile north of Barr.  Great little bird that sat for about 4 minutes before flying off."

Tuesday 18th February

Gary and Wendy emailed the following to me last night, referring to their change of plans for yesterday,

"The weather turned out worse than we thought it would today and we didn't in the end get to Portnahaven on the bus. Very little to see around Carnain but we did have a visit for about 8 minutes from a ringtail hen Harrier over the pond behind the cottage. Also seen were some Barnies, Shelduck, Oystercatchers, Jackdaw and Blackbird.  A Hare was also seen."

John and the team of the "Port Ellen 4" had ventured out in the atrocious weather and managed to see the following birds yesterday:

"Loch a'Chnuic: Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, R b Mergansers. Claggain Bay: 5 GND & 1 BT Diver, Tysties, Shag, 10+ Oystercatcher & Ringed Plover. WT eagle over woods to the South of Cluanach. Bunnahabhain: 4 GND, Tysties, Cormorant. Caol Ila : Shag.

Obviously the main 3 geese sp, Buzzards, Hoodies, Ravens etc all over."

Chris Corrigan had been out yesterday as well

"A blowy and showery walk round Ardnave today where we managed to see a flock of 20 Choughs. 

2 Long-tailed Ducks (1 from the Gaelic Centre and 1 from Bowmore) along with Common Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Eiders and Goldeneyes.  All out on Loch Indaal. Needs to be a bit calmer!"

Mike Russell was in touch last night, again Monday's sightings 

"My partner Lesley and I are on Islay this week, up from Sussex. Today we walked through Bridgend Woods, lots of song, Song and Mistle Thrushes, Chaffinches, Wrens and Robins and we also  heard  a Treecreeper. Really pleased to get a great view of a Dipper as well.

In the afternoon, went to Laphroaig where on the beach had good view of 2 Otters, also number of Rock Pipits."

Many thanks to our visitors for sending their birds through and allowing me to share them with you...

Good friend, Lesley Silcock was in for a cuppa today, and she told me that she had seen a group of  7 Blue Tits together on her feeders at McNichol's Croft. This morning, as she was driving up to here at Shepherd's cottage, Lesley watched a Merlin zip into the verge of the road and emerge out unscathed a moment or two later, with its prey being proof that it had been successful in its acrobatics!!

Thursday 9th January

Some sightings seen by the birders in a group from Nature Scotland, led by Ewan Miles, father John and assisted by Iola Williams.

On Tuesday, in the atrocious weather they had seen a Buzzard, a male Hen Harrier and a Merlin as they made their way over to Gruinart, where they had seen the drake Green winged Teal. Up at Ardnave they counted 36 Chough on the dunes with 8 Goldeneye seen on Ardnave Loch itself. Yesterday, they had gone down to Port Ellen and round to the Oa. At Kinnabus, they saw over 70 Twite with 2 pair of Golden Eagles seen and then shortly afterwards they had an adult White tailed Eagle. A Peregrine was present out towards the American monument.  Along the coast,  past Ardbeg Distillery, GND, RTD with an Otter seen close to the shore there as well. They also had a Grey Wagtail, Treecreeper and also Goldcrest. Down at Kintra, they watched a Carrion Crow and a Hooded Crow tucking into some prey.  Up past Leorin, they were fortunate to have a great sighting of 20 Red Deer Hinds, quite close to the road. 

Finally, last night when coming back from Bowmore, they had a Barn Owl out hunting along the verge side, just after Carnain.

Friday 20th December

Lesley was out a couple of days back and there must have been approx 250 Lapwing from the North  hide at Gruinart and also watched a flock of 750-800 Golden Plover making fantastic patterns over the head of the loch. They didn't come very close but were entrancing.

Earlier on in the week, Morven and team from SNH carried out the December International Goose count  on the 17th and the 18th. Their tallies came to 32,017 Barnies, 6,325 Whitefronts and also 1,056 Greylags. The count for Dec 2018 came in at 31,623 for the Barnies (+394), 5,843 geese counted for Whitefronts ( +491) with the figure for Greylags was  1,177 (-121). Many thanks as ever to Morven and her team of counters for these figures about the geese, much appreciated...

Mark, today, had seen the following birds at Gruinart, 3 immature  White tailed Eagles creating absolute havoc around the flats and floods, a single Golden Eagle, 2 Woodcock, Barn Owl, Hen Harrier, Little Egret and a Goldcrest as well.

Wednesday 16th October

Just as well that I took a "daft turn" and cut the grass yesterday as overnight we had around an inch of rain, apart from the ground being rather wet this morning, I had to empty the rain gauge and we are only halfway through October... the gauge was only reading 5 inches, enough said..

Some sightings in through from Nick and Kath from last Saturday on their way home, (yes, I forgot about them, the other night).  Down at Whin Park they had the 2 Lesser Snow Geese, a Little Egret, a Peregrine, and also 5 Pale bellied Brent Geese. When leaving Gruinart, earlier on, they had seen a close sighting of a Golden Eagle.

On Monday , David Wood had seen mixed flock of Wagtails at Risabus on the Oa. There were 13 in total with a single Grey Wagtail, 10 Pied Wagtails and also 3 White Wagtails seen. Other birds seen on Monday by himself included a Merlin, 10 Goldcrest, along with a count of 200 Redwing all on the Oa reserve...

Gary, this morning had seen a Merlin chase after a wader out from Bowmore. Out on Loch Indaal itself, he had seen RTDs and GNDs, and then along at the head of the loch, he counted 52 Barwits and also 32 Redshank. Round at Blackrock, Gary had 22 Scaup and also 31 Common Scoter. Resting up on the edge of Loch Gorm he had located the 2 Lesser Snow Geese amongst the flock of Greylags present.

Ann and Noel had seen all the above mentioned birds as mentioned, but added seeing Turnstone, Goldeneye and also Long tailed Duck, all seen out on Loch Indaal. Down on the Oa, they had seen 2 Golden Eagles, a flock of over 200 Twite, a Kestrel, a Merlin and also 2 Chough.

Peter, today had seen a drake Green winged Teal out from the South Hide at Gruinart amongst the many Teal and Pintail present there.

Along on the barley stubbles at Sunderland I had counted 70 Whoopers and then managed to show 2 visitors the 2 Snow Geese resting up amongst the Greylags there.

Monday 14th October

Peter had helped Bob with his WeBS count from Port Charlotte round to Blackrock...Their tally came to as follows...200 Barnies, 15 Gbb Gull, 66 H. Gull, 12 Common Gull, 2 Bh Gull, 49 Shag, 5 Cormorant, 63 RTD, 9 GND, 9 Slav Grebe, 1 Red necked Grebe, 87 Common Scoter, 5 Heron, 44 Razorbill, 32 Common Guillemot, 5 Auk species, 4 R b Merganser, 25 Eider, 1 Ringed Plover, 6 Curlew, 33 Oystercatcher and 4 Mallard.

Mark and Shona-Isla's tally for the reserve at Grunart came to...  5 Swallows, 5 Goldcrest, a W T Eagle, a Golden Eagle, a Sparowhawk, a Peregrine, a Hen Harrier, 1321 Golden  Plover, 531 Lapwing, 916 Teal, 55 Wigeon, 6 Whoopers, 54 Pintail, 4 Gadwall, 24 R b Merganser, 3 Knot, 171 Curlew, 56 Redshank, 66 Sanderling, 32 Ringed Plover and also 66 Dunlin.

Today was Richard Belter's last day of this visit and due to the rain had not seen a lot but he had a flock of Twite at Sanaigmore and also 2 GND out in the bay, but no sign of the White rumped Sandpipers!!! Along the road, he had seen a ringtail  Hen Harrier and on the merse at Bridgend, Richard had seen the 2 Lesser Snow Geese. Thanks to Richard for sending his sightings through.

This morning, we had a rather bedraggled Redwing on top of the garden fence. Around 20 Whoopers flew out to the Sea and flew out on towards Ireland and then later on over 30 Whoopers were noted flying in over Coull Point.

Wednesday 14th August

A mixed  sort of a day with the weather, no shorts being worn!!! Having said that I managed to lift some of our tatties today... As I write this entry, there is a rather watery looking sky outside!!!

This morning on his way to work, Phill had seen 2 Sandwich Terns on the "North beach" at Port Ellen which were present along with 5 Common gulls and also 12 Mallard.

Richard Williams had been over at Claggain Bay where he saw 6 Red throated Divers close in to the shore. Also in the bay, Richard had seen 3 Eider and a Guillemot. On shore, he had a Goldcrest and also several groups of Coal Tits and Long tailed Tits. Earlier on, close to KildaltonCross Richard had seen 2 Common Whitethroats.

Saturday 10th August

Through the day out here it has surpisingly kept dry, but now early evening, the wind has picked up quite a bit, bit still remaining dry...

George E. Jackson is back over visiting for another Islay fix. Yesterday, in Bowmore he saw a Sparrowhawk fly over the distillery, it then proceeded to fly out along the village, much to the annoyance of the Swallows, before causing havoc with the Starlings. In the afternoon, up at Killinallan, he had several Dunlin in summer plumage, and he also saw a few Ringed Plover. Up close to the locked gate, a juv. Stonechat was seen.

Early this morning, I saw that pesky Sparrowhawk flying through the Linnet flock, it flew up the top beside our house, resting up on the fence for a few moments and it then flew away... Later on, I saw a Grey Wagtail

This afternoon, Sheila Sim had walked down to the Lily Loch up behind Port Askaig. She had seen the following birds ... Raven, Twite, Siskin, Treecreeper, Wren, Coal Tit, Spotted Flycatcher, Goldcrest, Willow Warbler, Pied Wagtail, Swallow, Osprey, Hen Harrier and a Robin. A great selection , well done Sheila.

Tuesday 25th June

Another glorious day with the weather, not a bad complaint though!!

Gary, today had seen an Osprey fishing on Loch Finlaggan. While he was there he also had a White tailed Eagle fly over and shortly after that he saw 2 Red throated Divers (RTDs) 

This morning, visitors Andrew and Karen Evans had a RTD out over Kilnaugton Bay. This afternoon, along on the Oa, they had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier and also a mixed flock of Twite and Redpolls.

This evening, at the Bird nerds meeting down at Foreland, we had seen Whitethroat, Longtailed   Tits, Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Goldcrest, Willow Warblers, Blackbird, Song Thrush and also heard a Bullfinch. Margaret spotted a Peregrine sitting on top of the crag this evening,  up here at home.

Friday 2nd November

Yesterday morning, Bob had seen a Woodcock and then a small flock of  20 Fieldfare were present along the track to Bolsay.

Mike Bell yesterday had a another good day's birding. Just after breakfast, he had a count of 50 Whoopers along at Sunderland. On the floods at Gruinart, he counted a further 52 Whoopers before they flew off in the direction of Sunderland Farm.. He also had 1,490 Teal, 7 Blackwits and  40 Redwing. While driving up the East side of Loch Gruinart, he had seen the Little Egret in one of the creeks. He had 550 Golden Plover near by with 119 Barwits, 345 Dunlin, 57 Sanderling, 2 Greenshank and also seen were 2 different Ringtails. On the flats at Gruinart he had a count of 240 Linnets all feeding on the ground. On the barley stubbles at West Carrabus, there were 11 Whoopers. Over at Coal Ila, he saw 2 imm. White tailed Eagles and 3 distant Golden Eagles seen way over on Jura. Mike saw 3 Tysties flying North up the Sound of Islay with 32 Eider, 2 Common Scoter and 3 GND seen  on the water. He also saw 2 Goldcrest in the trees there as well. Up past Dunlossit, Mike saw a further 2 Golden Eagles, shortly afterwards he had 17 Fieldfare and as he approached Storakaig, 65 Hooded Crows were counted and then along the road, a flypast 38 Fieldfare flying South. Down on the stubbles beside Mulindry, he saw 394 Whoopers, 3 Pink footed Geese, 230 Whitefronts, 480 Greylags and also a flock of 70 Chaffinch

Here at home, this morning the Ringtail flew past following the garden fence .... Lunchtime the Sparrowhawk spoofed the wee birds from the feeders and then mid afternoon, a Merlin zipped past.