Corncrakes, Mackerel and Easter Eggs

Cliff Isherwood at the Kilchoan House Hotel has reported hearing a corncrake. These birds were once common across the British Isles but their numbers have declined drastically, to the extent that they are now extinct in England and are best seen in the west of Scotland and the outer isles.

Cliff says, "It was a sound I've never heard before, quite odd, and moving. The sound passed by the hotel and over the field in the direction of Mingary Castle. I checked out the bird's call on the RSPB's website and it was unmistakeably a corncrake - the first I've ever heard."

The RSPB page with the corncrake's call is here, and there's more about corncrakes here.

Many thanks to Rachel Davies on Flickr, here, for the photograph.

For the fishermen, the good news is that the mackerel are running in the Sound. Their arrival is unusually early: we don't normally expect them until well into May. The first catch of the year was landed by Bert Cameron, Hughie MacLachlan and Stewart Pote - he's the man with the smile holding the fish - and they came in with a bucketfull.

Many thanks to Morven and Titch for the picture.

The local children had a super day on Sunday, with an Easter Egg hunt at Glenborrodale Castle followed by an Easter Egg Rolling 'event' down the slope at Camas nan Geall.

The picture was sent in by Stewart Pote, who runs Over the Garden Wall.