The Oa

The weather is still not the best, but that didn't stop us from getting out early to join the RSPB walk in one of their two nature reserves on Islay.  The Oa (pronounced 'oh') is the larger of the two and has some dramatic rocks, spaces for Corncrakes and is there to help the cough population. Apparently there are golden eagles nesting in the cliffs, but the weather was too rubbish for them, but we did see plenty of black gulliemots, fulmars and gannets.

Picked up a new birding term that I think I'll be using regularly - 'LBJ' for 'little brown job' to describe the many small brown brids you see.  The LBJs we saw today were mainly Linnets, and I got a likely identification for the LBJ fledging we encountered yesterday who was likely a dunnock. 

At the tip of the Oa is the American monument, which was built by the people of Islay in rememberance of two American shipwrecks that happened off the coast. Pretty harrowing stuff and a bleak place to be rescued from a ship.  Today, it was surrounded by more wild goats, hence the blip.

After a lazy afternoon we intended to head to the woods at Bridgend for a shetlered wander before dinner at the Bridgend Inn (would recommend, their custard was delicious).  However, we got waylaid by a sign to a craft courtyard where I treated myself to a print from the photography studio and P ended up in 'The Whisky Vault' which was home to a number of limited, and again expensive, bottle of whisky.  Luckily they also had flights available so P had a number o before dinner tipples whilst we chatted to the host and found out a bit more about life on the island.  It was a good find.