Friday 15th June

Some sightings from the "Mallard Way birder". On Monday 11th, he had heard a Corncrake calling away while he was in the old chapel at Kilchiaran. When he came out of the chapel, he saw a Kestrel hovering over the hillside beside the chapel. He also saw several Sand Martins  flying up the burn, from the sea to the nest sites in the sand bank . On Wednesday, he heard a Corncrake calling in the field opposite to Port Mor campsite., and watched some Gannets fishing off Laggan Point. Yesterday morning, he had seen a pair of Stonechat while walking along to Nerabus. In the afternoon, he had a distant male Hen Harrier over Loch Gruinart, seen from the hide  and also a pair of 5 Mute Swan along with their 5 young cygnets. Shortly afterwards, he seen a Heron being chased by some Redshank and also some Lapwing, and he took it to be that the said Heron had stolen a young chick...He also had some Shoveler with young, one pair proudly showing their 5 ducklings.
The Barnsley birders had ventured out yesterday, seeing a Little Tern, a Whimbrel also a Peregrine as they drove up the road on the East side of Loch Gruinart. Over beside Cnoc Fada, a male Hen Harrier was seen.
Distillery Dave was commenting on how low, and close to the ground that the Swallows and House Martins were hawking to get their food with the wind being so strong yesterday morning.