Part of the day spent organising the annual Grey lag Goose census at the end of this month or in early September. Numbers are already beginning to build and there has been a count of 1195 already at the RSPB Gruinart Reserve. As I predicted numbers would increase last year, and didn't particularly, I'll hold my counsel at the moment, although I'm well prepared for change!!
A couple of conversations with colleagues agreed nothing notable occurring as far as movement is concerned, but that a number of recent days having seen warblers and chats on the move. The Oa has seen a few raptors ( Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Hen Harrier ) move through , very often moving towards the highest point before towering and peeling off south or south westwards. The Rinns peninsula doesn't seem to experience such raptor passage, which may be a continuation of birds moving from the mainland of Scotland, through east and south east Jura, then SSW along the southern coast of Islay culminating in the Oa. On a different subject, the satellite tracking of seabirds is set, I believe, to reveal some really challenging facts when it comes to the feeding movements of various species and the distances involved. Studies of migration have been to the fore for many years but new horizons are now opening up which I think will shock our previously held perceptions. Not least will be the distances some species are now having to travel to gain food given .it would seem, the ever depleting stocks of fish.
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