Saturday 20th April

Another day finished and despite some valiant attempts, no e mails as of yet..

It started of a misty sort of a morning, with mist lifting and then shortly afterwards dropping again, the only good thing about was that there was no wind, so I pressed ahead and got the wild flowers sown which needs to be sown when there is no wind, so for once I was pleased with the sort of dreich conditions, as some other places,the temperature has been a lot warmer...

Peter Gill from Sunderland came over for another visit to Islay, arriving yesterday. Where they were staying last night at Lyrabus, once it was dark, they saw a Barn Owl perched on a fence post along the road. Today at Gruinart, on the flats they counted 15 Whitefronts. On the Woodland trail, they heard several Blackcaps calling and they also saw a couple of Treecreepers there as well. From the North Hide, they had a Golden Eagle which was then joined and mobbed by a Raven as well as a Peregrine. Up on Ardnave Loch,  60 Barnies were counted with 10 Whimbrel seen on the shoreline they headed down to Bruichladdich.
Mike had counted 91 Pale bellied Brent as well as 147 Common Scoter flying North up Loch Indaal. Today, up here at home there was a Collared Dove present, with Mandy hearing a lot of Willow Warblers singing down below at Kilchoman House.