Another bright, sunny and dry day, but distinctly colder - just as the weathermen have warned us it will become over the next few days.
George Jackson sent in some records from yesterday: "From Gruinart S. Hide (midday) - 2 Little Egrets; all the usual ducks, including at least 40 Pintail; not many waders at all. In the garden at Coultorsay finches have built up steadily over the last week or so with 30+ Goldfinches and 20+ Chaffinches at any one time on the feeders: also now joined by up to 6 Siskins and, today, a brilliant coloured Redpoll. The 2 Tree Sparrows are still around - one was ‘singing’ on the roof ridge yesterday."
Mark Shields now holds the prize for “Most White-tailed Eagles Seen Together On Islay” with a staggering count of 12 young/sub-adult birds at the head of Loch Gruinart this morning. At the same time Dave Wood was watching 2 young birds on The Oa - so at least 14 non-breeding birds! Mark also reports a Canada Goose at Saligo.
Visiting birder Derek Coleman gets the prize for today’s best bird, but he doesn’t sound too impressed: “All the way from London and what is the rarest bird I see, a Magpie! One in garden just outside Bridgend. Also 40 Golden Plover near Loch Tallant”.
4 comments:
If that was the amount of young/stub adults how many adult pairs are there?
This amount is getting very worrying now. No other birds have a chance as they will be killing them. Also I hope they don’t start on our lambs. Proagram on last night about the island of raasay and they get hellish bother with the sea eagles lifting alive lambs.
I hope the two pairs of golden eagles are still on the mull of oa?
These young birds are likely to disperse fairly soon. The White-tailed Eagles on Islay seem to concentrate on the geese and with the Greylags being resident, hopefully they will still be concentrating on the geese after the Barnacles have gone.
Analysis of prey remains at nests on Islay and Jura last year showed a wide variety of prey taken - geese, ducks, seabirds, gulls, crows, pheasant, hares, rabbit, fish - no lambs.
A survey published last week showed that White-tailed Eagles were boosting the tourist economy on Mull by several millions of ££ a year. We could be cashing in on this on Islay too?
Not all about the money. Is crofters and farmers rely on our lamb money.
We don’t want to see our lambs getting lifted etc by these birds.
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