Tuesday 21st May

Another dry day, if not quite as sunny and warm as yesterday, ending with quite a dense mist as night fell, or at least there was here in Bruichladdich.

The "best" bird of the day was undoubtedly the Red Kite seen by Linden over The Oa. They are not quite annual visitors here and can occur in any month of the year. When re-introductions started in Scotland in 1989 based round the Black Isle, a number of birds turned up here especially in autumn, perhaps of birds that felt they ought to migrate and presumably flew down the Great Glen and then turned south. Such sightings gradually petered out and there are now additional populations in Perthshire and in Dumfries and Galloway of rather more sedentary birds with, altogether, over 300 pairs, so it is anyone's guess where this one wandered from.

Another good sighting was of a Greenshank at Cornabus Loch, seen by Ed Burrell and only the second one he's recorded at that locality.

And for those of you who don't see enough Red Kites, here's a photo of one by the late Gordon Langsbury.