Friday 6th December

Think that I can safely repeat my opening sentence from yesterday's entry, as it has been wet and windy  again, and Margaret saw that pesky Sparrowhawk out in the garden. The weather with the wind/ dirty showers has not lead to much birdwatching taking place. I counted a total of 13 Pheasants at one time earlier on and then this afternoon, there was a charm of over 15 Goldfinches around.

This evening, I have just been watching a program on the TV about Doddie Weir and his battle against MND.  A great program about a great man, and he was in the company of John Beattie, another great rugby player in his day as well...

Thursday 5th December

Another wet and blustery day out here again, but it did not deter Margaret from seeing a cheeky Sparrowhawk sitting on top of our bird feeding station for a few moments this morning. Coming home from Gruinart late morning, we saw a male Hen Harrier out quartering its' patch between Torran and Coulererach.

Marsali sent me through the figures for the rain that she has had in her gauge at Mulindry for the whole of November. Needless to say a bit wetter than here, but it came to 4.4 inches... say no more on that subject..

Wednesday 4th December

Well I trust that all our readers have got themselves all wrapped up, as today out here on the "Western front", the wind has huffed and puffed all day with the odd dirty shower thrown in for good measure. I should know about the dirty showers as I had to dash into the garage, rather than try to make the extra few yards back to the house, net result was that I did not get too wet!!

In between times, Margaret did see a Sparrowhawk siting out in one of the bushes....it was only there for a few brief moments before flying on!!!

Tuesday 3rd December

Yesterday afternoon, Lesley Silcock had seen 2 White tailed Eagles down past past the tip over at Gartbreck. Visitors, also yesterday, had seen a Snow Bunting down on the Oa, they also saw a Golden Eagle there as well.

Distillery Dave had 2 Golden Eagles out over Rockside yesreday as well... 

Last week was the first of this autumn/Winter count of the International Goose counts with the tally coming to 35,253 Barnies, 5,512 Whitefronts and 1,210 Greylags. The Barnies are up , while both the Whitefronts and Greylags are down on the comparable count last year....  Many thanks to Morven and the team from SNH for providing us with these figures.

Margaret saw a ringtail Hen Harrier fly past the garden this morning.

Monday 2nd December

Last week, when we were out on the mainland, we went to 2 very interesting talks, one was given by Doug Allan who is a well known wild life cameraman, mainly on underwater work that Doug has done over the years..especially on his work on the recent Planet Earth programs which are currently on the TV screens at present. The other talk was equally interesting, as it was given by Ann Cleeves who we had originally met while on holiday at Asa Wright centre in Trinidad a few years ago and then more recently, we were again in Tim and Ann's compay when we were in Tanzania in a small group including Mike and Val Peacock, with the tour being arranged and led very ably by Peter Roberts... say no more...

Sunday 1st December

There was a message on the phone when I got home today from a visitor who is over on Islay for a few days... he was saying that he had seen 3 different White tailed Eagles when he was out for a drive yesteday round the Rhinns .. He also found a dead Tawny Owl, which was freshly dead as it was still warm, close by there was a dead Woodcock. Brian was also telling me that the Tawny Owl only had one eye, and that the Wodcock had no head...

Obviously, now that  we are in another month, the rainfall figures here at home only came through at 3.25inches... a lot drier than other places for sure... So could we be in for dry spell in December, we will just have to wait and see???

Saturday 30th November

Yesterday, James had seen 2 White tailed Eagles in the trees at Avonvoggie on the high road. Later on while on the ferry, he saw an Otter in West Loch Tarbert. Finally, James had a Little Egret at Kennacraig.