Monday 31st May

Yet another sunny day out here, but there was wind blowing away for most of the day, so the wind chill came into play, at least it has stayed dry...

Out from the crag I counted a total of 18 Chough flying atound and then the resident Ravens flew back in... there was a Lesser Black backed Gull flying over the machir looking out for any poorly lambs but there were none!!! I also watched the Wheatear hopping around on the ground and also saw a pair of Goldfinches which were also present, on one of our hazel bushes!!!  Finally, we saw the Swallows hawking around over the thistles looking for any grubs/ insects which were around.. One thing that is great about the wind blowing is that the midges are not out!!!

Sunday 30th May

Yesterday David Dinsley had seen a Spotted Flycatcher  at Kinnabus on the Oa and he told me that it was present over there all day...

Also yesterday, Margaret had seen a Peregrine Falcon, flying away from here up over the crag...

I was speaking to a visitor this morning, who said  that he had heard a Corncrake calling down towards Machir Bay and that he hd seen some Reed Buntings in the reed bed there as well both yesterday evening.

This morning he had seen a Golden Eagle soaring away high up, when he was out

Saturday 29th May

Yet another top class sort of a day, with the weather that is, mind you not a lot to complain about with the birds seen...

Up here at home, we spent some time out seeing the birds on offer out in the garden and round about as well... it was great to see a pair of Stonechats out flitting around as they do, a Wheatear was seen out on the big lawn looking for some food, a Wren came out of the "hedge", making a brief appearance. On the corvid front, we saw the Ravens out flying around, watched the acrobatic Choughs as they noisily flew around, and also a few Jackdaws present as well, more Swallows have been seen today, but still no sign of any nest building activity as of yet.

Friday 28th May

Well, as predicted last night, the rain came through the night last night, not a lot, and then by the time I got up this morning, we had a low mist in for quite some time and after that it turned out a not to bad sort of a day, so I managed to finish off tidy up the tree guards and stakes away.

Margaret saw a Chough with a different colour combination on its legs, completely different to the one that we normally see up here...

Thursday 27th May

The weather over here today, well it has remained dry and I think that come tomorrow there will have been some rain around, not a lot but some...

Bob was in touch today with the "scores on the doors" from his WeBs count from Port Charlotte through to Blackrock which he carried out yesterday....

8 Gannets, 6 Shag, 2 Cormorants, 23 Common Gulls, 5 adult Greylags along with 6 goslings, 22 Oystercatchers, 18 Eider, 4 Tysties, 4 Mallard, 21 Redshank, 14 Dunlin, 14 Dunlin & 6 Herring Gulls.

Gary was in touch this morning, to say that he had just seen 2 Ospreys in fishing in at Loch Finlaggan and also 2 RTDs present there also...

Peter also reported a late sighting of a Mandarin Duck ove at Craighouse on Jura, last week on the 17th.

James had been out doing a Corncrake count, and sent me this list of birds seen/ heard when he was out last night....

"Not many Corncrakes calling at a very cold Gruinart last night, but here are a few other birds

Short eared owls 2 near Loch Gorm

Water rails 4 different birds calling around Gruinart

Peregrine Gruinart

WTE Gruinart"

Wednesday 26th May

Another glorious day over here with some more of that "wall to wall" sunshine, so we took a daft turn and removed some of the tree guards that have been protecting some of our wee trees for a good number of years... It will certainly look a lot different now!!!

Not much to report on the bird front tonight folks, although we wacthed the Ravens out with their 3 young out trying to stake the crag as their patch.. we also saw a pair of Fulmar out flying along the front of the crag. Another good spot was seeing a few more Swallows out on the wing, so hopefully they might think of getting a clutch of eggs laid.. and there is still plenty of time left for them to get on and do something.

Tuesday 25th May

"A not bad sort of a day", so we managed to cut the grass, what a difference it makes... 

Chris Brock had seen a GND and a couple of Tysties close by the boat off Port Ellen this morning...😉

Lauren Stewart had carried out her WeBS count on Loch Gruinart yesteday, with the tally coming through as follows...

Shelduck 11, Mallard 6, Eider 2, Oystercatcher 125, Ringed plover 529, Lapwing 2, Dunlin 922, Bar-tailed Godwit 49, Curlew 18, Redshank 4, Black headed gull 18, Common gull 63, Lesser black-backed gull 2, Herring gull 33, Canada Goose 3, Swallow 4, Whimbrel 8, Peregrine 1 & Greenshank 1