Sunday 16th August

This spell of good weather continues... This morning Bob, Gary and myself carried out the WeBS count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck. At the start in Bowmore, at the mouth of the harbour an Otter was seen and at the top of Loch Indaal towards Bridgend, an distant Osprey was seen, neither of which could be really counted... The tally at the end was as follows... 1 GND, 11 Shag, 3 Cormorant, 352 Greylags, 1 Heron, 9 Shelduck, 15 Eider, 25 GBB Gull, 1 LBB Gull, 203 Herring Gull, 35 C Gull, 4 BH Gull, 1 Snipe,, 35 Oystercatcher, 55 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 56 Barwits, 1 Knot, 1 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 7 Dunlin, 11 Turnstone, 14 Ringed Plover and a Gannet. We also saw a Sparrowhawk flying down the lane leading to the shore at Rannochmore and a ringtail Hen Harrier over Gartbreck flying over Loch Indaal. The figures might have been a bit higher but there was quite a bit of disturbance by local fishermen in their boats and also some folk out walking dogs...There was also a Greylag with a neck collar on it, so I will try to find out some more info about it and let you know. Here at home this afternoon a Sparrowhawk flew down towards the wood with some prey in its' talons, unfortunately I did not have my bins with me so I could not say who is now missing...