Wednesday 22nd January

A quiet day on the bird front today... The Fulmars were back in again at the crag this morning, not many but they were there! George was telling me that the 3 Whoopers Swans are still around on his ponds. Bob was round at Kilchiaran this afternoon and watched a Golden Eagle having 3 attempts at a hare, by the way the hare kept ducking and diving and lived to see another day...To finish off with, it is a bit cooler outside now...

Tuesday 21st January

After the weather being such a good day yesterday, well, today it went downhill rapidly, I even had to empty the rain guage out this morning as it was full, with over 5" of rain in so far for this month alone. Why do ducks have webbed feet, think we should possibly have webbed feet too... Fortunately I kept back some of Mary's sightings from last week. The highlights of a Farmland Birds survey carried out on Thursday included 31 Twite, 80 Chaffinch, 45 Skylark (individual birds rather than together), and a Golden Eagle being mobbed by a Buzzard up towards Ardnave. Friday was the day for the Winter Thrush Survey covering both the trails at Gruinart, the tally covered everything, not just Thrushes, so here are Mary's figures...24 Blackbird, 16 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare, 15 Robin, 5 Dunnocks, 3 Wren, 5 Roe Deer, 7 Greenfinch, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 9 Reed Bunting and 2 male Bullfinches. Thanks Mary. Yesterday, here at home there was a flock of 150 Twite fly past when I was up at Shepherd's cottage

Monday 20th January

Mary had carried her count out on Loch Gruinart on Wednesday, with her tally as follows. 4 GND, 1 Cormorant, 9 Shag, 1 Heron, 2 Pintail, 222 Shelduck, 152 Wigeon, 11 Mallard, 9 R b Merganser, 12 Shoveler, 6 Gadwall, 96 Oystercatcher, 20 Ringed Plover, 885 Golden Plover, 460 Lapwing, 346 Sanderling, 465 Dunlin, 222 Barwits, 229 Curlew,71 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 69 Turnstone, 7 Blackwits, 1 Dabchick, 2 Common Gulls, 82 Herring Gulls and 3 GBB Gulls. Ardnave Loch had 10 Whoopers, 4 Mute Swans, 1 Lapwing, 4 Oystercatcher, 27 Teal, 14 Goldeneye and 7 Mallard. The floods at Gruinart held 10 Mute, 7 Whoopers, 2 Gadwall, 77 Teal, 148 Teal, 3 Pintail, 22 Shoveler, 4 R b Merganser, 5 Heron, 37 Lapwing, 1 B H Gull, 4 Herring Gulls and 5 Dabchicks. Thanks Mary, busy day for you!Yesterday I had a ringtail Hen Harrier fly directly over, low down, over the garden at Shepherd's cottage, can I call it a garfden bird along with the Corncrake??? On my way down to meet up with Bob yesterday morning, I had a Merlin at Rockside,and a Peregrine down at Foreland. Coming back home later on, there were around 15 - 20 Blackbirds in the bushes/ trees at Foreland.

Sunday 19th January

well, as promised I managed to get out and get some birds today, the weather turned out better which helped too! So I went out and gave Bob a hand on his webs count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck. The scores on the doors were as follows, 7 GND, 22 Shag, 1 Cormorant, 4 Heron, 80 Barnies, 7 Whitetfronts,7 Shelduck, 16 Mallard, 149 Wigeon, 80 Teal, 28 Eider, 7 Red breasted Merganssr, 4 Turnstone, 175 Curlew, 192 Oystercatcher, 8 Barwits, 2 Redshank, 22 Dunlin,88 Ringed Plover, 40 Lapwing, 9 GBB Gull, 80 Herring Gull and 25 Common Gulls. Bob told me that he too had seen the Scaup on Loch Indaal on Friday afternoon and had counted 130 in the raft, also there were 2 Slavonian Grebes. Earlier during the week while out on the Goose counts, at Eollabus, Bob had 60 Woodpigeon.

Saturday 18th January

Nothing much to report on the bird front today as I have been busy here at home today, in fact I have not been off the place all day, the rain set in late morning, so it was a great chance to get on with some indoor jobs that needed a start made on. Having said that Margaret did notice that there were a few Fulmars in along the front of the crag before the rain came. No promises, but I will try to get some birds tomorrow if the weather picks up, fingers crossed....

Friday 17th January

Yesterday Malcolm had the Glaucous Gull down at Bruichladdich, it had been awol for 3 days.... Today down at Blackrock there was a flock of Scaup, not as many as in previous years. Along the road, infact on both sides of the road the flock of Barnacle geese were really close to the road and not really bothered about the passing traffic. Coming home and between Blackrock and Uiskentuie, a Merlin was perched on the dyke at the roadside.

Thursday 16th January

Forgot to mention last night that I had a ringtail Hen Harrier fly past when I was up at Shepherd's cottage speaking with the builders... Coming home last night, we had a Barn owl sitting on a fence post down close to Foreland. This morning, around 10am, Pia had a White tailed Sea Eagle soaring overhead while she was out with her dog, along from Gortan towards the spit, with the Eagle high up over the raised beach. Going round to Gruinart around the same time, we had a Kestrel, hunkered up in the gravel quarry at Coull. On our travels, we saw 3 Buzzards and another 2 over the wood outside Bushmills. We also had a Hooded Crow up past the old Kilchoman School. Back home again, and the Lapwing flock were out towards the War Graves again, and a couple of Chough flew past as well, can't they ever not fly past quietly? Bob around 3pm had the White tailed Sea eagle directly above his house.