Mon 31st Aug

Another month almost in, and just to keep you all up to speed on the rainfall, well I am sure that this has been the wettest August since we came to live on Islay almost 10 years ago. If memory serves me correctly the November in 1999, we had the best part of 10", so possibly this is the second wettest month, say no more.

George phoned to say that he had seen a Little Auk on Loch Indaal this evening. When I met up with George, the loch itself was flat calm, the only problem was that the dreaded midges were out! Undeterred, we managed to locate the bird again, well out in the loch and swimming along quite quickly allowing for it being a relatively small bird. There were also some Razorbills off the pier at Bruichladdich, half a dozen Scotor on the loch too and George had 2 Red throated diver earlier on today. Down on the shoreline, not far from the coal yard there was a Whimbrel, a couple of Knot, 6 Ringed Plover and 22 Turnstone. There was a Gannet out fishing further down on the loch too.

Back home this morning, there was a male Blackbird with a rather tasty bramble in his mouth.

Sun 30th Aug

Rather a miserable evening outside at present, the plane would have got in earlier on but certainly not now with cloud/dank mist and drizzle shrouding the crag, almost Autumn weather. On a more positive note, the combine was out at Rockside yesterday and made a start to the harvest before the rain in the evening!!!

James had some sightings from over on the reserve at Gruinart, mainly a lot of Dunlin on the estuary, just short of 2,000, well up on the previous count of over 1300+. There was a single Turnstone seen amongst the Knot that are still here, as were 53 Redshank. From his own house, he had seen 3 separate Hen Harriers out hunting, and had another male bird further over on the reserve later on. On the "game" crop he had 35 Twite, and this afternoon when over here at his sheep, he had another 33 on the wing.

Fri 28th Aug

It is odd that often you drive along a road and not notice everything round about you, today coming home back up the road from Loch Indaal, it was really the first time that I realised how many berries were on both on the Rowans and also on Hawthorn, possibly it was because the bright red of the berries were standing out in the sunlight against a dark sky! The question then comes to mind, is this a sign of a cold winter to come?

Clark was up on his quad bike this morning and told me that he has had 7.5" of rain so far this month, and still a few days left..... Incidentally, the wind last night dropped as quick as it had started out.

There do not appear to be so many Swallows or House Martins around, so some more of them could have flown South, having said that the nest in garage still has the young there.

Thurs 27th Aug

With Rory now having left Islay, James drew the short straw and did the guided walk at the reserve at Gruinart this morning. The highlights included a count of 82 Knot over the loch and the Peregrine was seen again. James and Catherine led a "Barn Owl & Bat walk" to over 30 folk last night, a great time by all accounts, not sure what they saw!

The wind outside has fairly picked up since tea time. It was odd this morning in that while I was out at the poly tunnel, I noticed that the leaves on the trees have had a burning with the salt wind from the blow the other week.

Wed 26th Aug

Late morning, and right on time the rain stopped. Later on I glanced out of the kitchen window to see a rather fat Fulmar glide past and just make it over the brow of the hill beside the War Grave cemetery. Thinking back on this, and I am sure that it was probably one of the young Fulmars fledging from the crag. In previous years, we have had the odd one stranded in the garden and also out in the fields, as once they "crash land" they are unable to fly off, and the most successful remedy was to catch them up and take them directly down to the sea!

James had a Great Skua fly past at Gruinart this evening, and a couple of Hen Harriers over the reserve earlier on, while there was a Peregrine over the saltings at the head of Loch Gruinart.

Tues 25th Aug

The weather is holding out, although there were a few spots of rain at lunchtime, having said that I managed to catch up with cutting the grass! Coming home this evening after a meeting, there were plenty of moths on the wing, do not ask what species, as I cannot answer that one! There was no sign of any Barn Owls out hunting, but there was a leveret on the road in the car headlights, eventually it jumped into the verge out of my way!

Mon 24th Aug

On the crag yesterday, there were 2 Peregrines calling to each other, but I was beaten in trying to locate them, they were certainly there for a while. Further proof was found in the afternoon up beside a rock beside the dam on the burn, with the remnants of a Rock Dove found on the ground. There were a few more Greenfinches on the feeders at the house today. Another positive to be taken from today, and possibly tomorrow is that some of the farmers are trying to get some more silage made before the rain returns on Wednesday!