Weather, a major talking point for humans, can be a matter of life or death for birds.

Here is a summary of weather data for 2009 to date from our weather station at Kilpatrick on the west of the island.

Dom.Dir. – dominant direction

The weather influences the timing of bird migration. This year, March had twice as much rain as February but a dry settled spell from 17^th to 23^rd seemed to encourage the arrival of the spring migrants.  April had a few dry spells, but overall the month had more rain than March.  With the wind mainly from southerly directions, the summer migrants arrived generally a few days earlier than last year.

The weather influences the timing of breeding.  In comparison with May 2008, May 2009 was cooler and wetter.  This may have delayed the timing of the breeding of some of our summer visitors.  In particular House Martins and Swallows seem to have been later in establishing their nests. 

The weather influences the success of breeding.  The cold northerly winds in June and heavy rain in both July and August may have had an impact on the poor breeding records for some of our raptors.

It is because weather has such a marked impact on the lives of birds that the Arran Natural History Society in their 2009 bird report would like to include weather data. Not just the data from one weather station but, knowing that the weather does vary across the island, the data from a range of weather stations across Arran.

If you are keeping records of the weather where you live on Arran and would like to share these records with me for inclusion in the “Arran Bird Report for 2009” I would like to hear from you.