Sunday 4th March

Yesterday, George E. Jackson had commented on the amount of fresh goose droppings that he had seen down on the Machir Bay, presumably barnacle goose dropping after roosting on the bay after the full moon that we have had this week. Beside the pool at the carpark there, 3 Ringed Plover, 4 Golden Plover, (1 complete with black under belly) and also 4 "alba" White Wagtails were seen. On the dunes, there were 3 Lapwing along with 20 Oystercatcher and then a group of 40/50 boisterous Chough. Finally, he managed to flush a Jack Snipe out of the marram grass. In the afternoon returning up from Port Ellen along the high road, he saw 4 Redwing and also 3 Fieldfare. Finally back at Rockside, George had a distant Golden Eagle out over the distillery. Yesterday, Distillery Dave had seen a Snipe and 2 Woodcock down at Cornabus Plantation. Today, down on the "duck pond" behind Machir bay, Dave saw 6 Whooper Swan and counted 36 Chough poking and probing in the Machir itself. Gary and Sam had seen 2 Crossbills in the trees at Staoisha and when returning home, a Golden Eagle flew over Heather house beside Caol Ila.