January started with ten days of dry cold weather.  The month had around half of the rain of January 2008.

Raptors were to the fore this month. Reports included: three Golden Eagles in the sky over Lochranza on 13^th; a Peregrine sparring with four Ravens near Bennan also on 13^th; a pair of Hen Harrier on Machrie Moor on 15^th.  In addition there were lots of sightings of Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.  At this time of year these species numbers are increased by birds which have migrated from the harsh winters in Scandinavia.  Another bird that is known to migrate from the colder north is the Merlin.  There were two reports this month of this small raptor, it is about the size of a thrush; a female at the Dyemill on 9^th and a male at Drumadoon on 12^th. 

Other sightings included: nine Black-headed Gulls and ten Kittiwake in Whiting Bay on 1^st; Red Grouse on Cnoc Breac on 7^th; seventy seven Woodpigeon in Shiskine on 12^th; twenty pairs of Fulmars on the cliffs at Drumadoon on 13^th; a solitary Waxwing at Balmichael on 19^th; two male and one female Goosander in Lochranza on 22^nd; eighteen Dunlin in Whiting Bay on 23^rd; a Jack Snipe in Clauchlands on 28^th.

The weekend of Saturday 24 and 25 January was the weekend of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and I will say more about that in the next Bird Notes.  Garden bird sightings other than from that weekend included: a Redpoll on 4^th in Catacol; a Great Spotted Woodpecker on 5^th in Pirnmill; a Siskin on 17^th at Dhunan; a Blackcap on 23^rd in Brodick; a Yellowhammer on 31^st in Shiskine.

Our most numerous wintering geese are the Greylag.  On the 13^th there were over four hundred in Clachaig.  The largest groups of those other winter visitors the Fieldfares and Redwings were at Balmichael on 19^th, when there was around two hundred and fifty Fieldfare and fifty Redwing.

There were signs of approaching Spring with Gannet off Kildonan on 4^th, in Lamlash Bay on 18^th and north of the Fairy Dell on 31^st.  But the winter is not over yet.