Fri 28th Aug

It is odd that often you drive along a road and not notice everything round about you, today coming home back up the road from Loch Indaal, it was really the first time that I realised how many berries were on both on the Rowans and also on Hawthorn, possibly it was because the bright red of the berries were standing out in the sunlight against a dark sky! The question then comes to mind, is this a sign of a cold winter to come?

Clark was up on his quad bike this morning and told me that he has had 7.5" of rain so far this month, and still a few days left..... Incidentally, the wind last night dropped as quick as it had started out.

There do not appear to be so many Swallows or House Martins around, so some more of them could have flown South, having said that the nest in garage still has the young there.

Sat 26th July

Not too clear an image of a young Corncrake, as it was taken through the kitchen window of one of the cottages this morning.

On Thursday, on the way down to Bruichladdich I noticed 3 Rowan trees at Foreland laden with red berries, is this early, or is it possibly a sign of an early/ hard winter to come?

I forgot to write an entry from James before he went on holiday, whilst going over to Oronsay, he had seen 10 Manx Shearwater in the Sound of Islay, and also 3 Storm Petrel between Islay and Oronsay. JRH