Tuesday 15th March

Another great day, long may it last... Today, had been the first day of the International goose Count, so we have got some sightings from round Islay from some of the counters involved, contributors to the blog at other times too... Malcolm had been on the Oa run today, and at Mid Cragabus, 2 immature White tailed Eagles were perched on top of fence posts, close to the road. Malcolm also saw a Pinkfooted Goose amongst some Whitefronts at Risabus. Bob had been on the Laggan/ Tallant run.  On the "Laundry Loch" up behind Laggan Farm, 5 Whoopers were present while down at Laggan Farm itself, a male Hen Harrier was seen. At Gartmain, a male Sparrowhawk was spotted while over at Cruach, 3 Pinkfooted Geese were there amongst the Whitefronts. Mandy and Fiona had been on the Kilmeny/ Bunnahabhain route. At Ardnahoe, they saw a Golden Eagle flying over towards Jura, and then a male Hen Harrier and shortly after a ringtail as they headed on to Bunnahabhain. Lesley yesterday had seen an Adder out basking in the sun as she walked out to the "Singing sands" out past Kilnaughton Bay. With the weather staying good again today, I took the chance to get the tractor out and made a start to preparing the 2 pieces of ground in readiness for sowing a  cover crop for the birds next winter. The big downside was the number of stones, one of the areas had very few stones, but the other piece certainly made up for it for sure....