Thursday 7th April

Catch up time over here today, with wall to wall sunshine all day, it had to come, better still, more of the same tomorrow!

George counted 40 Black headed Gulls down on the rocks below his house on the shore of Loch Indaal today. He cannot recall seeing as many as that there before. George also had 80 Common Gulls, 1 Shelduck, 1 Redshank, 20 Whimbrel, 2 Curlew, back on the land he had 5 Roe Deer and 6 Hares, while on his bird table there were 2 Greenfinch and also 2 Goldfinch.

The birders from Somerset had made the most of a better day and headed over to Jura where they saw a male Hen Harrier displaying, a Golden Eagle on the wing, a male Yellowhammer. They also had a group of 12 Fieldfare and saw an Otter. A female Merlin was seen round Loch Gorm and there were 11 Whooper Swan on the flats at Gruinart.

Back here at home, I saw my first Sand Martin over the glen this year, a pair of Kestrel were seen too and mid afternoon, a pair of Peregrines were up on the crag, as well as a pair of Chough flying past calling away as they do. A single Wheatear was present at the back of Machir Bay.

Wednesday 6th April

Another day weather wise like yesterday, but this evening the haar is in from the sea, and we cannot see the crag!

A day also for migrants, there was a male Blackcap in the garden at lunchtime, here at home, while over at Gruinart 30 House Martins were seen. Another migrant heading back is Stacey who has left Bird Island in South Georgia. Stacey has been working out there since August 2008 and has some tremendous images on her blog. She worked here on Islay with RSPB prior to heading to Bird Island.

The "Somerset duo" had a Merlin and a Hen Harrier before setting out today. Over at Bunnahabhain they saw an Otter again, 2 ringtail Hen Harrier, a Swallow, a Black Guillemot and 2 Great Northern Diver in the Sound of Islay. At Gruinart, they saw the House Martins and a male Hen Harrier. Later on up at Ardnave Loch they had 3 female Goldeneye and 24 Tufted Duck.

Tuesday 5th April

Another mixed day with the weather today, it managed to stay dry this morning, although it was wet and windy through the night. It has reverted back to that again this afternoon and now this evening, at least it is not cold!

Catherine sent through some sightings from the Oa, 73 Fulmar, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Buuzard, 1 Dipper, 3 Chough, Wheatear, Golden Eagle, 18 Tufted Duck, 263 Greenland Whitefronts, male Hen Harrier, male Goldeneye, Redshank and Lapwing were also present. The "Somerset duo"made the most of this morning and went over to Bunnahabhain where they saw a dog Otter eating a crab! The Iceland Gull was still present, as were several Great Northern Diver and Red throated Diver in the Sound of Islay. They also saw a Red legged Partridge in the Ardnahoe area. On Loch Gorm, a family group of 5 Whooper Swan were seen and also 3 Hen Harrier around the Loch. They also had a male Hen Harrier close to where they are staying.

Monday 4th April

It was damp over here this morning, but after lunch it fared up a bit, not that bad really. Tomorrow is another day and some more rain is on the cards, it had to come... The visiting birders from Somerset had to make do with a visit to a visit to a Distillery in the morning! This afternoon they ventured down to the Oa. They saw a Golden Eagle, some flocks of Linnet and Twite as well as a Merlin. On their way home they had a ringtail Hen Harrier and at Bridgend they saw a Sparrowhawk.

Sunday 3rd April

A better day, no rain! On Countryfile earlier this evening, they were saying that March had been the driest for 50 years, and also more sun than normal.

David Mason had a Bullfinch in the woods to the west of Port Ellen at the start of the week, and later on he had a Treecreeper up in Bridgend Woods.

Yesterday morning, Bob was down at Frenchman's Rocks for a couple of hours. He had a count as follows, 350 Gannet, 150 Kittiwake, 100 Fulmar, 80 Razorbill, 35 Guillemot and 1 Black Guillemot. Back home, and Bob had a male Merlin fly through his garden, it did a quick about turn and come back through his garden, startling all the "wee birds" on his feeders....

There were 2 Sand Martins round at Kilchiaran this afternoon.

A visiting birder had a Swallow over at Gruinart today, 2 Merlin, 3 male Hen Harriers, 20 Black tailed Godwit, 6 Sanderling. From the hide he had an Eagle being harassed by 2 Ravens. On his way home he had 50 Golden Plover.

Saturday 2nd April

Quite a lot of rain through the night, the burn was running big this morning, as I write this evening, there has been 0.75" of rain since yesterday morning...

Going round Loch Gorm this evening, we had several pairs of Curlews, 3 pairs of Redshank, numerous Lapwing, 22 Golden Plover at Ballinaby, several Ringed Plover, 12 Pied Wagtail also at Ballinaby, Barnies, Whitefronts, Greylags, Meadow Pipits, Hooded Crows, Rock Doves, 3 pairs of Mallard, Chough, Jackdaw, in fact a good cross section was seen without us really going out of our way to find them. We have 2 young brothers along with their parents in one of the cottages this week and the boys are on the lookout for birds when they are here. I was well impressed as the elder brother even knew what a Chough looked like.

Friday 1st April

Think the weather has been the "April Fool" here today, the rain gauge gave us a reading of 2.75" in total for the whole of March, so in keeping with the national figures it has been a dry month. In 2010 it was 4.5" and back in 2009 a wet 4.5", so we will just have to take what comes. Somebody told me the other day that July was going to be wet...

The figures came in for the International Goose count carried out on the 10th & 11th of March. The tallies were 35,661 Barnacle Geese and 6,911 Greenland Whitefronts. Many thanks to SNH for passing these figures through.