Thursday 4th June

Not such a good day with the weather as yesterday, but overall not too bad, but there is some more rain forecast to come in the next few days... Martin made the most of the good weather yesterday and for his efforts got a tick for his list, he saw a Corncrake over at Gruinart, his first since coming to Islay over 4 years ago. Back close to home, over at Glenegedale, he saw a Short eared Owl, the first reported sighting to the blog for a few years. The Teme valley birders yesterday had spotted a Buzzard over at Knockcrome on Jura carrying a rabbit. The Pagham birders had seen a distant Golden Eagle yesterday down on the Oa. Gary on Tuesday had seen a male Hen Harrier quartering its patch over the flats at Gruinart, over by the old hide, a Peregrine was trying to flush out some wee birds out, coming back across the flats, a Buzzard was taking some of the young Lapwing chicks. Yesterday, Gary had a ringtail Hen Harrier hunting over the gorse bushes beside his house. Later on, while walking along the new Distillery path out of Port Ellen, Gary and Sam saw a Golden Eagle overhead with an Otter out on the sea. At Laphroaig, they spotted a family of 5 Treecreepers in the trees there. George was on the phone to say that he now thinks that all the Tern nests which he reported seeing down on the shore at Bruichladdich have been destroyed by the high winds with a lot of seaweed being deposited on the shore plus movement of the stones too. Whilst out listening for Corncrakes in the early hours this morning, we saw a Barn Owl down close to Foreland on top of a fence post in the headlights! The Pagham birders had a pair of Spotted Flycatcher this morning in Bridgend Woods and this afternoon, the Teme valley birders heard 2 Corncrakes calling below Leek just after Ballinaby and before the phone box.