Saturday 25th May

The sun was out for much of the day, but the wind, now from the east and south-east, remained quite strong until mid-afternoon.

There was just one bird sighting reported today, which was of an Osprey, or perhaps that ought to be the Osprey, seen by Linden at the same location near Loch Gorm where Mandy saw one on Wednesday last week. The bird she saw was perched on a telegraph pole with a fish in its talons. The one Linden saw today was carrying what he thought was a rodent.

Leaving birds (again), a Red Admiral Butterfly was in my garden in Bruichladdich this afternoon feeding on the flowering heads of chive plants. This is the first I've seen this year and I hope it presages another good season for them. Numbers in some parts of Scotland in 2023 were described as "spectacular". Migrants can arrive this early, but equally they now hibernate quite regularly over the winter in Scotland and emerge in the spring.