As promised yesterday, today another new website from Islay. This time a blog about Islay's wildlife called Islay Birder, run by John Armitage from Portnahaven, which is a great area to observe sea birds, specially the coastal area near the Frenchman's Rocks. John's profile on his blog: "I retired early after 20years with RSPB working in conservation. Most of my time now spent doing voluntary bird survey work. Enjoy many other aspects of natural history including mammals and butterflies/moths. Particularly enjoy seawatching and bird migration." John will cover the wildlife on the Rhinns and will post updates regularly on his new blog.

When I sent John an email he replied: "From time to time I'll also be incorporating information, updates etc relating to the British Trust for Ornithology and the current Atlas Project 2007-2011 aimed at determining the wintering and breeding distribution of birds. I'm their Regional Representative (for Islay, Jura and Colonsay) so get involved in organising various surveys." John knows Ian Brooke from the Islay Birds Blog and Jeremy Hastings from Islay Birding well and the three of them will operate independently, each covering their own area. I will also include John in the weekly Wildlife report and mention some of the highlights.

The Frenchman's Rocks near Portnahaven

For the wildlife enthusiasts among us there is now another good source of information. A quote from last Wednesday: "A drastic change in the weather brought light winds, sunshine and warmth to such an extent that I had both Green-veined White and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies during the day, the first for the year. For once birds could actually be heard singing as opposed to everything being subdued by the wind!!!"

Welcome to the "(Islay) Blogosphere" John, we are looking forward to reading a lot more about Islay's fantastic wildlife. John's website can be found at islaybirder.blogspot.com.

Tag: wildlife portnahaven