Sunday 26th July

The weather forecast was wrong, a nice complaint for once... we did not get the rain that they had claimed we should have got, but there again it might come tomorrow instead! Yesterday evening, Gary and Sam had done a quick scan out from Smelly corner and their birds were as follows, 63 Barwits, 17 Redshank, over 200 Curlew, 3 Whimbrel, over 250 Oystercatcher, 125 BH Gull, 200+ C Gull, 47 Pied Wagtail, 4 Buzzards and 81 Ringed Plover. In the garden here at home, at the back of breakfast time, there were 15 Song Thrushes and 5 Blackbirds and this evening over 200 Jackdaws were on the grass!! Visitor Mark Cockburn from the Scottish Borders had been up at Ardnave and braved the squally showers...His tally was 1 Peregrine, 1 Ringtail Hen Harrier, 21 Chough, 4 Dunlin, 6 Ringed Plover, 10 Twite, 1 Redpoll, Wheatear, a Mute Swan with 4 cygnets. Down at the reserve at Gruinart, Mark saw another ringtail Hen Harrier.