Sunday 18th January

A not bad day over here compared to days earlier this month that is, good for time of year for sure! Ed today had been over the other side and had seen some Red Grouse on Beinn Bheigier, lower down, earlier on, he spotted a Dipper on one of the streams. Visiting birder from Lancashire, George Jackson had been over for a few days along with his wife Pat, hopefully we should some sightings as their son is one our local GPs... Another coincidence is that George is an old ringing colleague of Gordon Yates and also David Formby who used to be our Dentist...George has already started to put together a garden bird list and 2 "unusual" birds already is a Reed Bunting and also a Raven. He also had a count of 58 Rock Doves, 3 Blackbirds, a Song Thrush and also 2 Redwings. They have also had a Buzzard and a family of 5 Whitefronts less than 40 metres from the garden fence. On Friday, there were some more Whitefronts and also Barnies around about 250 metres away! More from George and Pat tomorrow... This afternoon, as we headed over to see James at Gruinart, there was a Stonechat on the roadside along the far end (West) of Loch Gorm, over at Grainel, there was a flock of around 50 Fieldfare. Coming home just before we came to Ballinaby, a male Hen Harrier was out quartering his patch, a great sight to see!