This year we will start focussing more on the RSPB reserves on Islay. We will provide better coverage on the farming and wildlife side of the reserve as well as inform you about all the organised walks and events that will take place this year. And there will be many compared to last year, including walks on Sunday morning. We have teamed up with Dave Maynard, AKA Botswana Dave, who is the Community, Information and Tourism Officer, based at Loch Gruinart. Dave will be writing regular guest posts on our Islay Blog to inform you about everything that's going on at the RSPB Reserves on Islay, at Loch Gruinart, The Oa and Smaull Farm.

A good way to start the new year is to have a look back at last year. Many things happened on the reserves on Islay and all the information, together with info from our neighbouring islands, has been collected and turned into an attractive newsletter. In case you haven't read it yet we now offer the possibility to download it directly from our blog by clicking here. In this newsletter for instance you can read more about the hen harriers which had a fantastic year on the reserve, with 6 nesting females, the best since 2007 and these fledged 12 young. There is also more info on the barnacle geese. They arrived en masse with an amazing 32,230 on the reserve on 20 October. An impressive sight, with huge flocks wheeling around moving between salt marsh and grass. There's also information on the upgrade of some of the paths to the American Monument and the Moorland Walk too, one of the most fascinating walks on Islay. So please stay tuned as Botswana Dave will do his best to provide his first guest blog around the end of March with loads of information for this year. Let's hope it's going to be a good one, for the birds, other animals and visitors of the reserve alike.

Tag: rspb