Photos from Duncan Taylor

The Taylor family really enjoyed their visit to Islay. Here's an extract from Duncan's email:

Click to see the Swifts!

Bat

My parents and I dropped in to the centre a couple of times during our
week on Islay last week and the second time we spoke to someone about
the bats we had spotted flying out of the eves of the bungalow we were
staying in. I promised to send any half decent pictures I had got so a
couple are attached here. We couldn't work out what sort of bats they
were, we saw them emerging from around 10:25 to 11:00 by which time it
was getting too dark and cold to keep watching. I guessed them to be
around 8-10cm long and I can tell they aren't long eared bats but beyond
that I have no real idea.

We also said we had seen swifts at the monument on the Oa on the 16th
June, around 10 to 20 suddenly appeared and wheeled around calling even
flying low enough for me to hear the whiffle of the wind in their
feathers as they swooped past. They flew around for a few minutes before
vanishing as suddenly as they had appeared and if I had realised how
rare that was for Islay I'd have tried harder to get a photo of them. I
was taking a panorama of the view at the monument and looking now I can
make out that I have photographed them, although you may need to take my
word for it that they aren't just dust on the camera.