Fri 10th July

Another great day, infact I do not think that there has been any rain at all this last week, but according to the weather forecast there is a change coming in tomorrow afternoon. While going on a short walk round the crag this evening, a Grasshopper had a close call as it landed on my arm, and instinctively I went to crush it as I thought it was another Cleg, but luckily for the Grasshopper I looked for once!

In many ways, this summer has been good for birds being successful in rearing broods of youngsters, but here at home I feel that the same cannot be said for the House Martins, some of the nests have fallen down, whether the mud has been too dry when the nest has been built. Another thought is possibly that the mix is wrong, and that the soil here is has a higher sand content, and so not binding together the same. Certainly other sites, especially at one house up towards Ardnave, it looks like being another good year there.

Thurs 9th July

The birds on the island have been quiet and hence the reason for no entry since Monday. I was taken aback last night in an article that I had been reading about Hen Harriers. I know that here on Islay that we have quite a good strong breeding population of around 50 pairs, compared with only a total in the high teens in the whole of England, that was last year. This article stated that by mid June of this year, there were only 9 nesting attempts, a decline of more than 50%. On the RSPB guided walk at Gruinart this morning, we saw 2 separate Harriers out hunting, it is not surprising how we "locals" take them for granted while many of our visitors watch them for a long time and comment on actually seeing one.

Mon 6th July

Malcolm e mailed in this morning to say that one of his neighbours had seen at least 5 Crossbills yesterday morning in a garden at Bruichladdich, including 4 male birds.

Also this morning, I was speaking with Michal about this years tally for Corncrakes, and it certainly looks like that we are on for a similar count to last year, of just over 80 calling birds. It is good that there are so many, as it was not that long ago the count was as low as only 4 birds, and that is within the last 10 years.

Sun 5th July

The reason for no entry yesterday was really quite simple, it was Saturday, which means for me at least, changeover day in the cottages and this week in particular, all the cottages had to be cleaned and got ready for another set of visitors, some new ones as well as some that have been before. The net result is that not much chance of any birding getting done by myself anyway! Today, has not been much better as I was helping a friend with his sheep this morning, a bit of a barter as he often helps out with ours! After lunch, as it was still dry, it was out with the flymo and cutting some grass for a couple of hours, you see I am a believer in doing jobs when I am in the mood for doing it and it does not seem so hard to do it. What about the birds then, well after cutting the grass and watching some earlier games of the Tennis, we went up round the crag and saw the Buzzard out soaring on the thermals, as well as some Fulmars too. Returning back down and there were about 20 lbjs on the new trees, but as I did not have my bins with me I was not 100% sure of an id, but fairly confident that they were some young Stonechats that had recently fledged. Later on, while going down to Bruichladdich for the papers, Friday's and Saturday's I hasten to add, we had a male Hen Harrier down below Rockside, close to the road, and then at Woodside a Ringtail. Coming home there was a Sparrowhawk perched on a rock.

Fri 3rd July

With there being a recent spell of decent weather, that was before it broke down, the farmers are well up to date with their work, many have got their silage fields cut and lifted, and the clippers have had a good start to shearing the sheep. With the silage fields cleared, there has been an influx onto the aftermaths of Rooks, which in some ways is interesting as there is not a Rookery close to hand, but there was well over 100 Rooks down at Rockside the other day.

Thurs 2nd July

It might not have come to much rain yesterday, but fortunately I remembered to empty the rain gauge which indicated we had 2.6" for June. That was just before 8 o'clock this morning, and in less than an hour we had 0.75" by 9am! Surprisingly, there was little sign of flooding, although someone told me that the Co-op in Bowmore had to shut because of the rain!

Back to birds, and Michal had heard a Spotted Crake calling on the reserve at Gruinart while he was out last night. Overall, there were not so many Corncrakes heard in the areas where he was compared to when he had covered the same run in June. Also, this morning, Malcolm had seen a Swift flying South over Bruichladdich.

Wed 1st July

This Greater Black backed Gull was down on the shoreline below the coal yard on Loch Indaal this morning, what I am not sure of was the prey that was at its' feet, as I was parked up on a bad place, on the wrong side of the road and on a corner. So, I had to take a quick shot and move on, I have a feeling that it could possibly have been a seal pup, but I did not really get a good chance to get a good id.

A visitor reported in to the Islay Natural History Trust, to say that they had seen a Hobby, up the back of Port Charlotte earlier in the week and had a Great Skua over Loch Indaal today.