Sun 7th June

The weather may have been a bit of a disappointment yesterday, but today it was back to normal, with the sun shining. So much so, that I made a start to clipping the sheep, so the ewe hoggs are going about a bit lighter, and hopefully, some more haircuts tomorrow please!

Back to birds, and James gave me some sightings since Friday. On Friday itself, he had a Ruff and a Gadwall on the reserve at Gruinart. He also saw his first Marsh Fritillary of the year. Up at Ardnave yesterday, and he had seen some Little Terns, a single Bar tailed Godwit, 22 Sanderling and 12 Dunlin. Through the night, into the wee small hours, James had done a Corncrake count on the reserve, and had 13 calling birds and also a Water rail. This afternoon James had seen Small Copper Butterflies on the wing, Green Hairstreak , some Four Spotted Chaser dragonflies and an early sighting of a Golden ringed dragonfly.

Sat 6th June

Though not forecast, the weather broke down today and out came the midges, so we went inside, not like Simon King the other night in Wales on Springwatch when he had clouds of the blighters around him!

This week there has been quite an increase in wild flowers in bloom, the Thrift, or Sea Pink at the head of Loch Gruinart is quite impressive, some of the Orchids are starting to show, Foxgloves too, as well as Ragged Robin along some of the verges of our roads. The Machir is coming out, a tremendous sight in itself, often seen in many photographs. On the other hand some of the Gorse is getting past, as are the Bluebells in the woods.

Fri 5th June

As the sunny weather still continues, we are all certainly making the most of it, the visitors in the cottages cannot believe their luck, here for a week and no rain, although today, it is a bit cooler. I forgot to mention yesterday some butterfly/ moth sightings from James. He had seen over 200 Painted Ladies Butterflies on a clump of thistles the other day. I certainly had seen several here at home too, but certainly not that many. James himself cannot remember seeing such a large concentration in one place before apart from over on the continent itself. James also had six spot Burnett Moths and a Cinnabar moth too.

Thurs 4th June

The present great spell of weather rolls on, I even went on the guided walk with Rory at Gruinart this morning, wearing only my shirt, no need for a jersey let alone a waistcoat. Some of the folk on the walk were wearing shorts, not that warm I thought! Rory had seen a pair of Golden Eagles defending their territory, the other day against a female Hen Harrier. James had a similar tale over at Gruinart itself of a passing Buzzard getting mobbed and attacked by another 2 Buzzards, possibly a pair, it took place over quite a while, initially in the air and then finally on the ground. It took place quite a distance from James, but he is convinced that the final outcome was that the passing bird was killed, as he did not see it fly off at the end. A sight that he had never seen before. Onto happier sightings, and James reports that he has seen several broods of both Redshank and Lapwing having successfully fledged. While out on his survey work, he has seen 2 separate Short eared Owls, while a Corncrake has been seen quite a lot recently, out in front of the Visitor Centre at Gruinart.

Wed 3rd June

The warm, sunny weather continues, although just before lunch it dulled down for a wee while just to fire up again later on, so as the weather continues, we made the most of it and cut the grass. On the downside, this evening there was precious little air while I was watering the poly tunnel, and sad to say the midges were out so the plants got a quick soaking! Certainly the House Martins were getting easy meals from the midges! Earlier on I noticed quite a few Starlings about, possibly some of this years' brood out already. Believe it or not, the birds are still eating quite a lot from the bird table, it is interesting to see some hen pheasants out, possibly there for a quick feed before returning to their nests. The cock pheasants are not to be seen in the same numbers around the feeders as they were earlier on.

Tues 2nd June

Another nice and sunny day over here today, but by the sounds of the weather forecast for tomorrow, it is to be a bit cooler, we have certainly appreciated it when it was here!

The Corncrake was still calling strongly last night, so much so that in the middle of the night, the bedroom window got shut, to give us a bit of peace. Then through the day, the Cuckoo has been calling with his mate responding back to him. Michal was in touch with the latest Corncrake tally of 55 birds so far, very similar to last years' figures.

Round the Loch tonight, and we saw 2 Lapwing youngsters, and I was amazed at their size already. Also seen were 32 Greylags on a barley field at Rockside, 16 on a grass field at Ballinaby and a further 40 in another grass field also at Ballinaby. So far I have not seen any goslings yet. Talking of youngsters, and there has been no sign recently of the "springwatch" Shelducks, if memory serves me correctly there is usually some activity by now.

Mon 1st June

Another month in, with rainfall for May totalling 4.2", a lot wetter than 2008, but the total for the year so far is only slightly ahead this year. No rain today, just basking in glorious sunshine, a nice complaint to have! Thinking back to last year, and we were in the middle of a dry spell, with several of the Distilleries having shut production down, due to a lack of water. This year at present, Ardbeg is sorting out a problem on the dam face at the source of their water supply.

Back to birds, and I noticed that the Mute Swans and their 5 cygnets down at Carnain are still all together, with nobody missing as of yet. The House Martins over the last few days have been busy building new nests, as several appear to have fallen down, possibly the mud mix is too sandy and not binding together. Meanwhile the Swallow in the dog kennel/shed is sitting on her clutch of 6 eggs, but the other swallow in the garage does not appear to have laid any eggs at all.