Thursday 5th March

Forgot to say last night that I spotted a solitary Fulmar soaring along the front of the crag yesterday morning, hopefully a single Fulmar does not indicate that we are due for some more stormy weather.... Chris and John had seen 20 Common Scoters along with 9 Long tailed Ducks and 3 Slavonian Grebes on Loch Indaal. Close to the pheasant feeders at Loch Skerrols, Chris saw a flock of 10 Yellowhammers. Along at The Woollen Mill, they had a Golden Eagle fly past with a Dipper on the River Sorn, a Bullfinch and a Great Spttted Woodpecker were also present nearby. Along over the hills towards Balimartin, another Golden Eagle was seen. The best of the day came up towards Bunahabhain with 3 distant Golden Eagles seen over Jura, and also a pair displaying over Islay. Then a pair of White tailed Sea Eagles flew from Jura over over to Islay, with one overflying where they were parked up! They also saw 2 Peregrines over the Sound of Islay with an Otter down in the Sound of Islay itself. Finally back at Ballinaby, they had a flock of 80 Twite and another flock of around 200 Skylarks which needless to say caught the attention of a Sparrowhawk. Today, at lunchtime I had a count of around 100 Skylarks down at Sunderland Farm.