A couple of days ago the team at Gruniart saw a break in the winter weather and the opportunity to get a few surveys done. The Wetland Bird Survey is one of my favourites and has us counting birds on Loch Gruinart both on and off the RSPB...
It's cold, wet and windy at The Oa here today, so here's a feral goat sat in the sun at Lower Killeyan last week to cheer me us all up. The guided walks we run here through the summer season usually feature Golden eagle, Chough, Hen harrier, and...
Those who know me know that I love spiders and I’ve been lucky enough recently to be able to have my first little hunt around one of the Oa reserve’s boggiest areas for a very tiny and very uncommon arachnid. When Site Manager, Dave Wood told me that...
The Oa reserve contains many hectares of heather covered moorland, and anyone walking this in late summer and early autumn cannot help but notice the Fox moth caterpillars which seem to be everywhere. They go in to hibernation in September, according...
One of the two resident pairs of golden eagles on The Oa reserve. Watched well and photographed badly from the reserve car park this afternoon.
Twite perched in a tree at The Oa reserve, on the Isle of Islay. Twite breed here and are mainly found around the coast in spring and summer but move inland at this time of year, where the resident population is joined by hundreds of birds from further...
The traditional Islay Autumn weather is well and truly with us, but the wind and rain took a brief break on Monday. Here's Lower Killeyan looking great in the sun.
The majority of the small Scottish population of Chough are found on Islay, and...
This stunning but stunned male merlin took a while to recover after crashing into the farmhouse window on The Oa reserve over the weekend. Merlin regularly chase twite at this time of year around the house but this hunt was less than successful. Happily...
Winter is defnitely descending on Loch Gruinart with the nights drawing in, fires being lit and the constant gak-gak of just over 23,000 geese on the reserve. It really is beautiful at this time of year and despite the end of guided walks and the departure...