A Winter Break

We have spent the past week on our favourite island of Islay.The snowdrops at Bridgend and along the banks of the river Sorn were at their best, having been delayed this year through the cold weather of last month

We watched an Otter on our first day and had good sightings of Hen Harrier, Merlin and Sparrowhawk.

I have spent some time filming a flock of twenty seven Snow Buntings and tried to attract them to seed but they failed to find it.

The presence of more than fifty thousand Geese on Islay is always an incredible sight. On one moorland we saw in excess of one hundred Ravens all attracted to food put out for pigs!

The rarest Islay bird we saw this week was a female Great Spotted Woodpecker – the only one on the island, a rarity so far North