Richard and Hilary Pickard yesterday had been out and about with a great selection of birds seen. Up at Ardnave Loch they had seen Whooper Swans, Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Teal & R b Merganser. A walk round Ardnave Point provided 18 Chough, 17 Ringed Plover, Rock Pipit, 3 R b Merganser, B t Diver and also GND. From the South hide at Gruinart, they had seen Greenshank, Peregrine, Buzzard, the Green winged Teal with a male and also a female Hen Harrier seen flying over the Gruinart flats and also over Gruinart House. Back on the feeders outside of the RSPB office at Gruinart, they saw Bullfinch, Goldfinches and a Sparrowhawk chancing its luck. Other "new contributors", The Port Ellen 4. They are obviously 4 of them , staying over at Port Ellen with their chief man being John Matthews and all from England, so here goes with some of their sigtings so far... 2 Golden Eagles seen out from Kilchoman, at Gruinart they saw the same birds as Richrd & Hilaryas above but had also seen 2 Snipe, Lapwings, Golden Plovers, Pintail, the Little Egret. They had seen 2 Buzzards on the low road, with another 2 when travelling round Loch Gorm and 2 more at Loch Gruinart. Up at Ardnave they saw the following "extra bird" apart from Richard & Hilary... a Snipe. Finally, down off the pier at Bowmore, they saw RTD, Common Scoter, R b Merganser, Goldeneye, Eider, Dunlin, Redshank, Ringed Plover and Shag.
Today, up here at home, the wee birds have been busy on the food on offer, and also that pesky Sparrowhawk was caught on camera again. I am not complaing about it all, as so far I have only seen it being successful once in a kill!!! Margaret, late afternoon counted 16 Chough flying back in to the roost.
