Tuesday 7th April

What can you say, another great day with the weather again, so no complaints on that front...Forgot to say that at the weekend there was a Peregrine out over the crag, today there was a Fulmar out along the front of the crag and this afternoon a Sparrowhawk swooped down across the garden, no doubt looking for a tasty morcel in the form of one of the wee birds that we have been feeding for most of the winter!!! Yesterday Peter Gill had counted 14 Whoopers flying North up over Loch Gruinart. Ardnave Loch held 4 Goldeneye and some Tufted Duck which proved difficult to count as they kept diving. On a walk round Ardnave Point, Peter reckons he had at least 6 Wheatears. On the East side of Loch Gruinart, he saw a ringtail Hen Harrier. Today down on the Oa, he saw a distant Golden Eagle and also 2 Chough.

Monday 6th April

Another great day, so working in the garden again in the shirt sleeves, and I got the whitewash out and made a start to that job instead of planting trees and shrubs, mind you I planted some tatties in some big tubs, so we will wait and see what comes of them...We saw our first Wheatear this morning down at the Coastguards' cottages. Dave had 2 Swallows and 3 Wheatears down on the Oa today. Visiting birder, Lance had seen an Iceland gull on Loch Indaal. Today he saw another Iceland Gull on the Oa, he also had a flock of 40 Twite and a Peregrine there too. Over Port Ellen he saw 2 imm. White tailed Sea Eagles.

Sunday 5th April

What a glorious day it has been today, once the early morning mist had rolled away. I even got the jersey off and worked away out in the garden, making inroads with planting some trees and shrubs and putting guards around them as I went along so the rabbits and hares do not think that I am planting the said plants for their benefit!!! This afternoon, 10 Whooper Swans flew over and in a Northerly direction, no sign of them resting on Loch Gorm so I wonder if they have just kept on flying with the weather holding good...Back on Friday, James had seen his first Wheatear of the year, up at Ardnave. Peter Gill on Friday had gone up the East side of Loch Gruinart where he had a count of 30 Sanderling, a Greenshank and 2 Chough were present too. Over the flats he had a count of over 500 Golden Plover, and he saw 2 Wheatears. Yesterday, he heard a Greater spotted Woodpecker drumming away in Bridgend Woods. 2 Grey Wagtails and a Dipper were present along at The Woollen Mill. On the road up to Scarrabus, close to a "pheasant feeder" there were 20 Yellowhammers. Finally over at Bruichladdich, Peter saw 5 Purple Sandpipers.

Saturday 4th April

Nadia and Darren sent some more sightings from their visit... they had a tally of 80 species seen which was really good considering the weather that we have had this week!!!On Loch Finlaggan, they had some Tufted Duck, a pr of Dabchick, and a Red throated Diver. Later on, over that way too, a White Tailed sea Eagle was seen... At The Woollen Mill, 2 pr of Siskins on the feeders present. Over at Bruichladdich, on the Loch Indaal itself, Loch Tailed Ducks were added to their list with Turnstone and Ringed Plover on the shore there too. On Thursday they had a male Hen Harrier and also a Buzzard fly over the front garden of the cottage they were staying in. Other highlights included seeing an Otter over on Jura, just after Craighouse. On the Oa, they had a flock of Twite, Peregrine, Raven and some Fulmars present along the cliffs. Thanks for your input folks and safe journey home. Today, Carl had seen 4 Canada Geese at Easter Ellister as well as another 3 earlier on at Octofad. Down at Portnahaven, Carl saw a Peregrine was seen carrying prey, 2 Wheatear, 2 Ringed Plover and 10 Goldfinches at Claddach, a Stonechat was down at Currie Sands as well.

Friday 3rd April

Yesterday, Dave over on the Oa had a juvenile White tailed Sea Eagle being seen for most of the afternoon over the reserve. He also had saw a male Hen Harrier. Today on the reserve on the Oa, Dave had a Snow Bunting along with 2 Fieldfare and also 3 Redwing. Down at Upper Cragabus, on the Oa too, 3 Bullfinches were present. Late yesterday afternoon, a male Hen Harrier soared over the garden... Later this evening on the TV on BBC2 at 9pm there is a programme titled "Easterwatch".. I believe that there were some cameramen over recently doing some filming, so I wonder if there will be some footage from Islay?

Thursday 2nd April

I know it is not Thursday, but due to a computer glitch at this end on Thursday evening, well need I say more.....Peter Gill had seen 4 Long tailed Ducks on Loch Indaal, off Uiskentuie, also on Loch Indaal he had seen 5 Pale bellied Brent Geese over at Bowmore. While walking down to Gartbreck along the coastline, a Golden Eagle flew inland in an Easterly direction.. Down at Kintour, he had 2 large Canada Geese on Wednesday, probably the same 2 that Bob and Malcolm had seen . Peter also had seen the Yellowhammers at the keeper's cottage close to Kildalton. On Wednesday, James had spotted the Green winged Teal out from the hide, also present were 2 Greenshank, and 5 Gadwall. Along the flats, 220 Golden Plovers were present. Today (Thursday), Bob had been out goose counting with Catherine and on the "laundry loch" up above Laggan Farm had seen a Goldeneye, 3 large Canada Geese were present there too.... Also out on Laggan Point, they saw a Wheatear.

Wednesday 1st April

Well, that is another month in with the rainfall tallying at 4.7 inches, mind you some days could have been even more but the rain just kept going past the collecting funnel, rather than actually falling into the funnel, one of the problems of horizontal rain....This afternoon, we had a male Hen Harrier out at McNichol's croft. Danny and Wanda saw another one today over close to Buildbase above Glenegedale on the "high road", earlier on they had counted around 50 young Reed Buntings at Ballinaby. Bob had been out with Malcolm goose counting on the Port Ellen route... They had an adult Glaucous Gull amongst some Herring Gulls up at the "sea shell dump" up behind Kilnaughton Bay. While having their sandwiches at lunchtime, a Kestrel screamed over Port Ellen Bay, just above the waves. Finally out towards Ardtalla they spotted 2 large Canada Geese...As I write this entry I am watching the hares in the garden, they appear completely oblivious of us humans through the big glass windows!!!