Friday 15th August 

A dry day with light winds and mainly overcast skies. Yesterday evening, cloud obscured most of the sky, preventing more than very partial views (glimpses) of the eclipse of the sun and almost nothing of the Perseid meteor shower.

Only two bird records received for today. Louise M had a lone Curlew in Small Isles Bay, while Rog M continues his exploration of the northeast of the island, noting 8 Grey Herons, including juveniles, perched on trees at Lily Loch. This is the site of one of the several small heronries on Islay. It survived the felling of some of the nesting trees a few years ago as they had become dangerous, but there were plenty of alternative trees, including at adjacent Loch Allan. Peter Roberts, in his book 'Birds of Islay and Jura', lists no less than 18 heronries that have been noted in the last nearly 100 years since the very first National Heronry Survey of 1928, but attendance at several of them seems to be intermittent, while a number are definitely extinct. Peter estimates up to 30 breeding pairs on the island, of which 8-9 were at Lily Loch in 2023, the last time they were counted, making it one of the largest heronries that year.

This makes a perfect cue for one of the late Gordon Langsbury's photographs.