In March 2011 Brenda and I had a short holiday on the island of Islay. It was a place we had wanted to go to for some time - for me because it is a great place for wintering geese and for Brenda because she has friends who live in Portnahaven. We stayed in a very nice self catering cottage at the famous Bowmore Distillery, a feature of the accommodation being the complimentary bottled of 12 year old Bowmore malt whisky and a tour of the distillery.
The weather, for Scotland in March, was very good and we got some great close up views of Greenland White-fronted and Barnacle Geese. A bird which I 'needed' for my Scotland list was a Chough and these were duly found at Ardnave Point - I had previously seen Chough in Ethiopia and flocks of them in Bhutan. A more surprising find was a small group of seven Pale-bellied Brent Geese on the shore at Bruichladdich whilst I was trying to photograph the Great Northern and Red-throated Divers (Loons) which were feeding just off the oil jetty.