Sat 30th June - Sun 1st July 07

A Merlin was seen to be acting oddly in a garden over at Ballygrant, it had got a blackbird shouting off its alarm call from within a bush. The Merlin responded, by coming in to land on its perch, sourced the blackbird and took off, smashing its way into the fuschia bush, but to no avail with the blackbird flying off unscathed! S.McG.
The weather here on Islay has gone downhill, now that we are in July. We only had 3.5" of rain in June, mostly in big falls overnight followed by nice suuny days, a big contrast compared to the flooding endured and ensuing damage done to property over on the mainland. So today it is rather dreich outside, with not much sign of many birds on the wing, although the young Choughs from the roost were quite vocal earlier on, as is their norm, they cannot go about quietly! I.K.B.