Friday 2nd June

 Another scorcher with no sign of the weather changing.

A bit of non-avian interest from yesterday from Lauren Stewart: "Yesterday we did our Marsh Frit transect and got 63 individuals on Creag Mor, this is a lot more than normal for us at this time of year. We also had Green Hairstreak and lots of 4 Spotted Chasers."

Continuing the butterfly theme, Steve Rogers saw mating Small Coppers in his garden at Emerivale today.

Margaret Brooke (Patron St. of Starlings and other small birds) reports a close encounter at Kilchoman with a "pesky" Sparrowhawk that was just about to get to grips with a screeching young starling it had just caught. She clapped her hands and it let it go and they both flew off  - presumably in different directions? (Margaret also had a Golden Eagle today that wasn't at all "pesky").

James How did a lot better at the RSPB Gruinart hides today than I did yesterday, finding 2 Whooper Swans and a Marsh Harrier in the morning then a Greenshank in the afternoon.

But without doubt, Bird of the Day goes to David Dinsley on The Oa where he found a very fine-looking European Turtle Dove at Kinnabus - lovely photo below. (Only about 50 records for Islay and getting less frequent as their British breeding population plummets).