Wednesday 10th October

Yes, as predicted, the geese arrived in numbers today.... James did a count at Gruinart at 5pm with his tally coming out at 31,570 Barnies, 300 Whitefronts, 9 Pink footed Geese and 2 Canada Geese hucthinsii sp. There also had been 17 Whooper Swans there today. From the old hide at Gruinart, Bob and George had 3 Hen Harriers, with the ringtail trying its best to get a duck, but with not much luck. They also had seen 3 Blackwits, a Pintail and a Pale bellied Brent Goose there as well. There were also around 4,000 Barnies present at the top of Loch Indaal. Malcolm had 7 Whoopers fly South down Loch Indaal, late afternoon.

Sunday 15th September

Yesterday, before the weather broke down, Bob did the walk from Bowmore down to Gartbreck. His tally was as follows, 1 Redwing, 350 Greylag, 3 Shelduck, 48 Mallard, 5 Teal, 6 Wigeon, 45 Oystercatcher, 3 Ringed Plover, 2 Barwits, 2 Greenshank, 7 Turnstone, 4 Heron, 10 Shag, 1 Cormorant, 32 GBB Gull, 300 Herring Gull, 450 Common Gull & 60 B H Gulls. Today a different day as forecasted! James was out today and counted 176 Pale bellied Brent Geese, 3 Barnies, 6 White Wagtails, 5 Blackwits and a Sparrowhawk all over at Gruinart. Martin, mid afternoon had been over at Sanaig and had several groups of Pale bellied Brents flying South, and also a few Arctic Terns fly past as well. Down at Portnahaven, Mary had 25 Pale bellied Brent fly South, and in the harbour there was a Grey Phalarope. Bob had a male Hen Harrier out over Bolsay Moor while Pat had a Sparrowhawk back at their house! The wind touched 48 mph along on Mike's weather station just after midday, glad I was not on the ferry today... they used Port Askaig today....

Tuesday 13th November

Hello, Ian is away so it is the assistant blog master for a few days. I have been out counting geese all day in the Gruinart area as part of the international goose count. A long day and a lot of geese: 18,638 barnacle geese, 967 White fronted geese, 122 greylags and 1 lesser Canada goose hutchinsii. I also saw 655 lapwing and 25 golden plover on the reserve and 34 turnstone, 1 purple sandpiper and a chiffchaff (tristis) at Ardnave.
At Ardnave I met Mike Reid and Friend who had seen the adult Iceland gull at Bunnahabain (back again for another winter).
I have some records in from Ken Reeves and colleagues (thanks again) :
On the 11th on their way over to Islay they had: 31 great northern divers, 5 red throated divers, 1 black throated diver, 50 red breasted mergansers, a golden eagle and white tailed eagle. when they arrived on Islay at An Innis, they managed to see 2 brambling and a short eared owl. On the 12th they had a good day with 6 whooper swans and 17 twite at Ardnave, 11 pintail, 1 greenshank, a hen harrier and whimbrel on Loch Gruinart. A golden eagle at Saligo and a yellowhammer on the Kilchoman road.