Tuesday 7th August

This morning, at the early hour of 4.30, Mike had a seen a Whimbrel flying over Port Charlotte and also a Greenshank flew past shortly afterwards. He also saw a Common Sandpiper on the rocks at Port Charlotte.

This evening, I took the chance and managed to take some images of the lbj flock flying past, over the seed crop. I knew that there were not as many as other times, but on a closer look on the computer, I counted 60 birds. On the red feeder, of Niger seeds there were 5 Siskins and 2 Chaffinches while on the Red Millet feeder there was 14 House Sparrows on the actual feed station itself with a further 10 n the ground. On the wee "anti Starling" table another mix of a further 8 birds were counted, and that was not counting the main feeders at the house....

Monday 6th August

Distillery Dave was down on Machir Bay early  this morning with his friend, Ted the dog.. Ted is a wee cracker, a bit of a nutcase too, but there again he is still a pup, young at heart...

So here are the birds that Dave had seen today, 21 Sanderling, 4 Dunlin, 7 Ringed Plover, 10 Curlew, a Greenshank and a Peregrine. Back at Rockside, the 2 Blackwits were still present.

The wee birds here at home appear to be enjoying the seed crop, joking apart, I will have a job in my hands trying to get a better count of what is there, as when they fly around, they are vey quick and mobile, and when they drop into the crop to eat, well they seem to disappear down in to the crop. The way to count them could be to possibly to try to use the camera to get an image and try to count them from it...

Sunday 5th August

Yesterday, James Butcher e mailed through to say that "waders numbers were on the up on Loch Gruinart". By the sounds of his correspondence, James had a bit of problem trying to count the waders because of the presence of a Peregrine which caused the waders to be on edge and a bit flighty... James count was as follows, over 800 Dunlin mainly adult birds with a few juveniles, 250 Ringed Plover, 200 Sanderling, 16 Barwits and also a juv. Ruff, the first Ruff he has seen so far this Autumn.

This morning, Distillery Dave had seen some Dunlin along with the Sanderling on Machir Bay, back up at Rockside he had seen 2 Blackwits. This morning, I counted 23 Whimbrel as they flew off the Machir and down towards the sea.

Saturday 4th August

Today, Distillery Dave had counted 76 Sanderling down on Machir Bay, he also had seen a Black tailed Godwit as well.

This morning, I saw 3 Wrens down below the house, the first seen for a few days. Out on the seed heads over towards the reed bed were a family of 4 Whinchats. Late afternoon, while visiting friends, we saw 2 juvenile Robins in their garden. Finally this evening, the flock of birds coming to feed on the crop has greatly increased, again mainly Linnet and Twite with a good number of Goldfinches enjoying the thistle seeds on offer. The other "locals", the Siskins, Chaffinches and House Sparrows seem to be content on the other purchased seed on offer!!!!

Friday 3rd August

Rather a late entry tonight, but it has been a "busy day" , so here goes...

Distillery Dave , first thing this morning had seen over 100 waders down on Machir Bay and this evening he had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier out on the wing opposite Dr Matt Jackson's house below Rockside.

Also today, Al Hart had seen Gannets flying past Frenchman's Rocks. On his  to his viewing point, he had also seen Linnets, Meadow Pipits and also Skylarks. He also watched a Buzzard take a rabbit...

This morning Mike, Peter and Mark Livingston had seen a pod of 11 Bottle nosed Dolphins on Loch Indaal while they were out in their boat fishing. Mike reckons that some of the pod were the same Dolphins that he had seen the other day as there was one with a distinctive notch out of its' dorsal fin.

This afternoon Mark and Val, Mike's wife, had walked from Ballygrant Woods towards Port Askaig where they saw a male Hen Harrier, a Spotted Flycatcher, Lesser Redpoll, and also 25 Mistle Thrush  feeding on Rowans.

This evening, here at home, we had a small mixed flock of 50+ Linnet and Twite on the seed heads of  the bird crop designed for that job. Over the fence, there were several families of Goldfinches eating on the thistle heads. Earlier on, in the afternoon, I took the chance and planted some more trees, mainly filling in a few spaces where some other trees had not  taken .. as well as some more in new sites as well, mainly Alder and some Birch, so fingers crossed that they all "take".

Thursday 2nd August

This morning down on mudflats at Bridgend, at the top of Loch Indaal, Mike had a count of over 250 Dunlin, along with 40 Sanderling. He also had a pair of RTDs flew over in from the moorland to feed out on Loch Indaal. This afternoon, at around 15.00 hrs Mike saw a pod of 7 Bottle nosed Dolphins off Port Charlotte  which then swam along the coast towards Nerabus.

Also today, Al Hart had walked from Ballygrant along to the Lily Loch. He saw a flock of 50 + Siskins, a Spotted Flycatcher. He also saw a group of 8 Mistle Thrush and wondered if they could possibly be a family together? Over on the far side of the Loch, Al saw a Dabchick feeding. He also commented on the amount of Buzzards being around as well.

Allen and Fiona Skinner saw a Merlin fly close past them as they walked up from the Coastguards to the former  Rockside school around lunch time.

This morning, first thing around 6.30am I saw a Goldfinch, a Lesser Redpoll, an adult and also a juv. Siskin on the niger feeder, and that was before filling it with any new seed...Later on, after filling the feeder up, the mix of birds on it was changed, up to 2 Goldfinches and a whopping 18 Siskins while on another small feeder there were another 4 Siskins...

Tuesday 1st August

This morning, Peter and Mike had gone up to Ardnave to see if they could se the Rosy Starling, no joy but they did have a group of 11 Blackwits at Ardnave Loch itself. Just as well that they had gone out this morning as the weather closed in this afternoon, a "gie driech" time since then. Maybe just as well I raked some grass cuttings as well, and I put them away down on the compost heap....On his way home, earlier this evening from here, Distillery Dave had a mixed group of 50 Curlew and Oystercatcher out on the Machir. Talking about the weather, the rainfall here came to an exact 4 inches for the month, Marsali at Mulindry was saying that for once she has not had as much as us, her figures tallied up to only 3.43 inches...