This week’s photo is one of Scotland’s rarest butterflies the Marsh Fritillery. I was lucky in finding up to ten a day on Islay as it is one of their strongholds.

The only drawback about being away for three weeks is that when you return most of the nests that you found before going away have now fledged their young. However during a hectic week I managed to film a Great Spotted Woodpecker with young about to fledge, Green Woodpeckers with newly hatched young and Kestrels with young just out of the nest.

It is not often I praise our water authorities but this time praise is due to United Utilities. A month ago a moorland reservoir, where I have filmed Little Ringed Plover in the past, was full to capacity and there was no where for them to lay their eggs. I made a phone call and the water level was reduced by a metre . Not much you might think but when I checked the reservoir during the week in the gravel now exposed around its edge Little Ringed Plovers had laid their four eggs. An excellent result and all due to one phone call.

In the garden there are now many recently fledged Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins and even a Wood Pigeon. A pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers are taking their food away for their young in a nest on the golf course and maybe when they have fledged they will also come to the garden.

Three weeks on Islay has now come to an end and we have had only half a day of rain which is pretty remarkable in view of the poor weather back home in Rochdale.

Having spent some time before going to Islay looking for Dotterel it was ironic that the first birds we saw on Islay were nine Dotterel feeding in a ploughed field. One hour later they continued their journey further North and as they do not breed in Iceland they may well have ended up in Scandinavia.

Unlike the Pennines Islay still has good numbers of Cuckoos and at present nobody knows why they are in decline locally and not so in Scotland. It was only on the seventh attempt that I finally obtained some film of one on its song post/

One day I spent four hours in my hide at a Buzzard’s nest that contained three young and an event occurred that I have waited a long time to capture on film. The male Buzzard, having already brought a vole and then a frog to the nest earlier, alighted with a large Adder that was alive and wriggling about. It was amazing to film the feed and then the young trying to swallow what was left of Adder. As shown in this week’s photo.

Islay is of major importance for Corncrakes and during the Summer there are regular counts to ascertain the number of calling males. Last year they peaked at eighty one and as I was lucky enough to hear nine different calling birds on just one evening it looks like there may be even more this year.

As usual three weeks is never a long enough stay on this magical island.

During the last week I have spent twenty five hours, in hot weather, trying to obtain film of a breeding pair of Hen Harriers. This was part of my long term study on the Hen Harriers but this year instead of two very mature birds there was a two year old colour ringed male paired off with a three year old female. This has never happened before during the thirty years I have been filming at this site so you have to ask the question what has happened to all the adult birds I have filmed previously?

In the last weeks good weather we have done lots of walking and finally watched an Otter bring a large crab ashore to devour. It was on the only day that I left my camera behind in the car!

With a maximum temperature of 28°C flowers are beginning to appear but are still weeks later than normal.

We have been lucky to have spent the past week on Islay in glorious weather and no midges!

In the superb weather a great deal of time has been spent in the hills looking for raptors. Hen Harriers,Peregrines, Sea and Golden Eagles have all been encountered. Whilst in my hide one morning I had an experience that I often thought might happen. A Cuckoo alighted on the roof and spent twenty minutes calling at full pitch. It was a novel experience to sit inches below it in the hide and I was tempted to tickle its feet from underneath! Cuckoos are still quite common on Islay and one day we saw three together on two occasions.

The Summery weather has produced more Corncrakes calling than normal and enabled me to obtain some good film of them

On the down side the flowers are weeks later than normal due to the cold Spring and two days searching for Otters failed to find any. I often suspect at this time of the year that they become more nocturnal in their feeding due to more people being around the beaches etc.

At long last, after hours of searching, I managed to find an incubating Woodcock. Unfortunately she was sat in rushes and white grass with only a handful of leaves to hide her but beggars can’t be choosers and an incubating Woodcock is always the prime target for Spring.

Whilst I have won with the Woodcock I have failed to find a Golden Plover’s nest for the first time in many years. Weather conditions on the moor have not helped and in addition a pair of Short Eared Owls are nesting where the Plover usually breed and they have caused some disturbance to them.

There has been a good show of Early Purple Orchids this Spring, although they are two weeks later than normal appearing. Whilst I was searching for the Orchids I came across a female Tawny Owl brooding young in a hole in the base of a tree. It is always good to find a ground nesting Tawny Owl.

In the garden three recently fledged Greenfinches were being fed by the male. Young Dunnocks have also appeared for th first time this season.

During the week I continued the search for Woodcock and Golden Plover hoping for better luck than last week. On the 11th at 1000 feet the temperature was only 4°C and coupled with the strong wind it was impossible to contemplate a walk on the moor. In fact it was the worse day I have ever seen on the moors in May in forty years.

The only good day of the week was on Sunday 6th May and as this was the Bank Holiday weekend I decided to ignore a walk up Pendle Hill to look for Dotterel and instead searched the top of Brown Wardle, a local hill in Rochdale, where nine Dotterel have turned up in two consecutive Springs. The photo above shows what a perfect morning it was but sadly no Dotterel could be found. In the evening I checked a birding website and admired some wonderful photos of five Dotterel that an eleven year old girl had taken on Pendle HIll that very same morning. Clearly, I went up the wrong hill!

Whilst searching an Oak wood for Woodcock I heard a tapping sound coming from inside a tree. The culprit was a Great Spotted Woodpecker chipping the nesting chamber.

With the cold weather it is not surprising that the garden continues to attract a good variety of birds and on three days this last week twenty or more species have fed during the day. The highlights have been up to four Redpolls and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers.