Tues 30th June

As I write this entry tonight, I have the funny feeling that there is a change working in the weather, there is definitely a different feel to the air outside this evening, so we will just have to wait and see what happens!

Nothing much out on the bird front, but the scent from Clover in the fields, Honeysuckle on some of the dyke backs and the Meadow Sweet has been very strong over the last few days.

Mon 29th June

This spell of great weather continues on, but no doubt some of the Distilleries may well be keeping a close eye on their water supplies.

Caught this young Wren on camera up the back of the wood here at the house the other day. I saw a male Redpoll there this evening, along with several Stonechat families, and also a female Siskin in the wood too. There was a small group of Chough returning to the roost while further out there was a some Ravens on the wing and a Buzzard was soaring round on the thermals above the crag.

Sun 28th June

A final contribution from our visiting friends, Chris and Tony Johnson, who left for home yesterday. Many thanks for your entries over the past fortnight.

"Saturday 27th June. The last day of our holiday. There were Whitethroat, Redpoll, Greenfinch, Dunnock and Willow warbler singing at Bunnahabhain, but a different song was detected. Sure enough it was the Common rosefinch which had been reported earlier in the week, singing loudly and distinctively from the power lines and looking like a slim Corn Bunting. out towards Rhuvaal, and the moorland was starred with the yellow flowers of Bog asphodel. Painted lady, Red admiral, Marsh and green fritillaries were seen. Along the way, families of Whinchat and Stonechat were noted. The final species of the two week visit, was the elusive Yellowhammer, with 2 male birds singing from the power lines. As we left Bunnahabhain, a brave Swallow was mobbing a ringtail Hen Harrier over the distillery. On the way down to the ferry, Grasshopper warblers were reeling, and a Kestrel was mobbing a Buzzard.

From the ferry, good views were had of a Golden Eagle over the Islay hills, a wonderful farewell for a wonderful holiday".

Fri 26th June

Getting a bit forgetful in my old age, I forgot to mention yesterday that while we were out with Rory on the guided walk at RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve, we had splendid sightings of Hen Harriers. At one point there was a Ringtail (female) mobbing a Buzzard, if memory serves me correctly we had 7 different sightings during the walk, at one time we had both the male and female together. I was speaking with George earlier this evening and he too had been commenting on seeing more Harriers out on the wing, hunting for food for their young. James commented on this to but with reference to Short eared Owls.

Another entry which I forgot was seeing a Lizard while over on Colonsay on Wednesday while returning back to our car after being at Pig's Paradise.

Thurs 25th June

Another contribution from our visiting friends,

"Morning visit to monitor the current state of the sea bird colony at the "Tooth rocks" at Saligo. The Auk population is disastrously low, in comparison to Colonsay yesterday. There were no eggs, no young and little out at sea. 4 Chough were seen there, plus another 18 at Machir Bay, while there excellent views of Whinchat at Coull.

The afternoon was spent looking again at the wonderful flora on the Killinallan dunes. The Pyramidal orchids were even more splendid, and numerous Frog orchid spikes were seen. Other species are now coming into bloom, providing even more colour for future weeks with Field Gentians just starting to show colour. A Golden ringed Dragonfly and a Marsh Fritillary butterfly were also seen. Redhank and Oystercatcher were very vocal around the rocks on the foreshore.

Grasshopper warblers were "reeling" again at Kilchoman and also down at Bridgend. Back at the cottage, and the Cuckoo was calling late this afternoon." Yet again, thanks folks.

Wed 24th June

Another great day over here, so much so that I just had to go to Colonsay for the day along with our friends, it did not take too much arm twisting!

Our main intention was to go out to Pig's Paradise, to visit what is believed to be Argyll's largest sea bird colony. After speaking with other friends and reading about the decline of other sea bird colonies elsewhere, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the numbers present appeared to be quite healthy. We were fortunate to find this Razorbill chick being fed , and we reckon that its' parent carried in around 8-9 Sandeels. Apart from the Razorbills, we also saw Guillemots along with many Brindled Guillemots amongst them, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Shags were also present. No puffins were noted, not even out on the water. There were a few Chough around too. We went up to the dunes at the back of Kiloran Bay later on, but were slightly disappointed to see so few Chough there. A couple of Corncrake were heard calling on our way to Kiloran Bay. Returning back on the ferry and there were a few Manx Shearwater on the wing, while there was a Black throated Diver on the water.

Tues 23rd June

The sea mist, or haar as folk from the East coast talk about, has gone, and the service plane was back on the go, the first time since Saturday, so on the positive side of things the ferry has been busy! It really did turn out to be a great day, as someone said this evening, it was even too warm for the midges!

Mid morning, while working on the sheep, we had the spectacle of a Kestrel seeing off a Buzzard, the Kestrel kept harassing it, with the Buzzard eventually giving up its' vantage point on the face of the crag. The Cuckoo is still calling in the wood. Later on this afternoon, the family of Ravens were out and about, croaking away to each other, just generally making a nuisance of themselves. Our friends had been over at Ardnave this afternoon and had seen a raft of 25 Merganser at the mouth of Loch Gruinart as well as Little Terns off Ardnave Point.

On our way home this evening, there was a Snipe on top of a telegraph pole, just along the road from where we saw the Gyr Falcon earlier on in the year.