Holiday to Scotland (Pt 4)

After a rough crossing from Islay to the mainland we headed  to Tayinloan for the 20 minute, very rough crossing to Gigha, on a small car ferry.
The Isle of Gigha is a small island (7 miles long by 1.5 miles wide) off the west coast of Kintyre and was subject  to a community buyout in 2004. There is one small but very comfortable hotel.

This was our third visit and whilst there are no particularly notable species present it is very quiet and unspoilt with just one road....ideal!

House Sparrows abound

A movement caught our eye in an old vent pipe in the local church

...and it wasn't long before the owner of the legs appeared...a Great Tit

...only to dive in again a few moments later 

I'm not sure how the youngsters will get out or how far down the pipe the nest was!

Plenty of Swallows nesting in old buildings

Collared Doves...too

Song Thrushes are far more abundant on all three islands that we visited than we usually see down south.

I suppose the star of the island for us was the Hen Harrier altough we only saw two ringtails and both were distant.

Well that's it for another year...apart from the weather, an enjoyable experience.

Back to Pagham now, where the sun always shines!