Back to the routine of strong winds, cold chills and showers. April at its finest. I'm glad of the shelter my hill ground affords the lambs on the ground in weather like this.
Mary-Ann reported a male hen harrier at Seal bay, and I had a large ring-tail hen harrier at Claddach Loch earlier. Every morning on my lambing rounds I spook a pair of teal from the pools near Frenchman's as well as numerous meadow and rock pipits, skylark, oystercatcher pairs, snipe, redshank and wheatear. Hooded crows are never far away, and the ravens often take a tour round the croft midday.
Steve reported a magpie at Emerivale: an Islay twitch! Billy at Ballygrant also had a visiting magpie to the garden on Tuesday. His normally tolerant ring-necked doves have apparently taken a real dislike of the bird and actively chase it!
Clive had found a dead guillemot at Kintra on Saturday, from its BTO ring he discovered the bird had been rung on the Treshnish isles as an adult in 2016. Clive is concerned with the number of dead birds he and others have discovered on islays shores recently - a result of bad weather? Bird flu?
Thanks to all for your sightings. Apologies again for the lack of photos, my computer just doesn't want to!
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