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Diciadain, 25/Apr/2012

New Hide at RSPB Gruinart, Islay

Islay News in stencil

Ian's blog entry from this evening mentioning the monthly Islay Bird nerds meeting yesterday reminded me of something I wanted to write about this week. I believe the official opening is this Thursday (i.e. tomorrow as of writing this), but then it has been open to the public for a while already. I'm talking of the new hide at the RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve on Islay:

Picture of a bird hide seen from the distance

The new hide is at the northern end of the woodland walk, below Gruinart Farm, just under half a mile north of the other ‘old’ hide (which of course is still open and can still be used). Through some of the gaps in the hedges you can catch a glimpse of it before seeing it in all its glory from the approach path:

Picture of a birdwatching hide seen from the approach path

I visited last Friday on a calm and sunny afternoon on Islay. I must admit the first animal I saw when opening the window wasn't entirely what I had expected:

Picture of a slightly surprised cow seen from the window of a bird hide

The main view looking east goes out over a bit of field, some wetland and Loch Gruinart:

Picture of the general view from the window of a birdwatching hide

I should think this hide will be great for watching the geese coming in for the roost during the winter months, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them will be just under the windows. When I was there the very last ones (almost all others had left for Greenland by then) were not to far from the hide picking away in the late afternoon sun:

Picture of some Barnacle Geese grazing on a field

I hope the new hide will be a great sucess, I think it certainly has a lot of promise. While it is a slightly longer walk than the other hide I would think it will become popular soon.

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