Thursday 20th February

Just as well that I emptied our rain guage yesterday as we had another inch through the night, the ground is laden with water, out on the Machir in places that I have not seen before, water everywhere... Yesterday,the Hampshire birders had a Dipper on the River Sorn, out on the Sound of Islay they had seen Black Guillemots, Eider and GND. Over Jura they saw a pr of White tailed Sea Eagles. They also saw a pr of Stonechats on Islay. Visitors from Cambridge had seen a male and a female Hen Harrier, a Brambling, a GND, Canada Goose hutchinsii sp and 10 Barwits while out and about round Gruinart and the Loch Gorm area. The Rochdale birders were telling me that the flock of lbj's at Corsapol has turned to mainly Chaffinches rather than as many Linnets seen there. James had some birds seen from the ferry when he was away for a few days. He saw a White tailed Sea Eagle on the Sound of Islay, both coming and returning! Also seen were "loads" of Tysties in summer plumage in the Sound of Islay, as well as Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, GNDs, a Red throated Diver, Black throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter, 5 Slavnian Grebes. Highlight for James was a Great crested Grebe in West Loch Tarbert

Saturday 8th February

Rather a dreich sort of a day out here today, not really a day for going out birdwatching, but some folk do... Sam and Gary the Lochwinnoch Birders had seen 5 Brambling over at Corsapol amongst a mixed flock of LBJs... Thanks to Sam and Garry for sharing your sightings while you were over here. New visitors from Rochdale had seen 20 Redwings together down at Easter Ellister. Later on, close to Lossit Farm they saw a leucistic Barnie amongst the Barnies present there.

Tuesday 19th November

Yesterday, the Burbage birders had seen 3 Lapland Buntings down below Rockside. Over at Gruinart, they had a Peregrine sitting on top of a fence post at the Visitor centre. Up at Ardnave Loch, 23 Whoopers and a Long tailed Duck were present. Also there were were 43 Chough. They also saw a male Hen Harrier just at dusk as they returned to Port Charlotte. Dave down on the Oa had a White wagtail yesterday and also a White tailed Sea eagle. Today over the reserve, ave had a flock of around 50 Fieldfare and another of 16 fly past, and also  40 Redwing overhead! Here at home I had to be content with a Brambling on the bird table!

Thursday 7th November

Yesterday James had a Brambling in his garden at lunchtime! This morning looking out at the willows in the garden here at home, there was a charm of at least 50 Goldfinches. Ian and Susan (visitors from Cumbria) had 2 GND and 2 Red Breasted Merganser in the bay below the Dower House past Kildalton. Michael had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier scaring off all the ducks away from the floods at Gruinart. The said Harrier kept quartering the floods but to no avail as it had already moved any "takings" on! Michael also had an immature Golden Eagle over the reserve this morning as well. Later on, a Merlin flew across the road as Michael headed into Bowmore. Finally coming home, he had a male Hen Harrier close to Foreland. The weather today, well, squally heavy showers with the wind gusting to 49mph just after 15.00 according to Mike's stats!

Thursday 31st October

Due to technical issues I am Blogging tonite. While Ian tries to shake the spooks out of his computer. A few sightings from Bob today, birding between the heavy rain showers. A Merlin and 2 Grey Wagtails at Duich and a large flock of 320 White Fronted geese at Newton.
Some records from the Nature Trek group bird watching on the Island for the last few days: Loch Indaal -6 Great Northern Divers, 5 Red Throated Divers, 6 Slavonian Grebes and about 100 Scaup. Ardnave - Peregrine, 32 Chough, 13 Snow Buntings and a White Tailed Eagle. Bridgend Woods- Tawny Owl. Bowmore- 1 male Long Tailed Duck. The Oa- 200 Twite, 1 male Brambling, Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier and a Snow Bunting.
Jura- 3 White Tailed Eagles, 1 Golden Eagle, Merlin, 5 Hen Harriers, 4 Great Northern Divers, 15 Whooper Swans and a female Otter with 2 cub.
There is thunder and lightening now so I think I will publish this post.

Monday 21st October

This is a more sensible time of the day to write the blog !!! Enough said... Made a quick dash over to Gruinart around midday and yes, got the Red backed Shrike, there was also a Blackcap there too. The number of times you hear of folk going to see a bird and missing it....Yesterday our Horwich friends had  a GND on Machir Bay, and in front of the hide at Gruinart a Blackwit  and then a ringtail Hen Harrier flew past, they also managed to see the Shrike too.Young Peter had 4 Sanderling down on Machir Bay along with 20 Ringed Plover and he also had a male Hen Harrier on his way down there. Yesterday, Mary McGregor's sister or rather Mary Redman's sister (cos Mary got married on Saturday) had a WTSE down at Claddach on her Granny's croft close to Portnahaven. Mary herself had a Wheatear at St Kiaran's church, between Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich and also she had a Barn Owl in Portnahaven in the evening. The Bancroft team had a male Hen Harrier down at Easter Ellister this morning. Young Peter and his Dad had a male Blackcap and a Brambling here in the wood this morning.

Saturday 23rd March

Another day like yesterday, certainly not a Spring day, thank goodness that the few sheep that we have are not lambing for a wee while yet...We really must be in a sheltered spot where we live on Islay as when I took Steve and his brothers over to the airport this morning, we were amazed at the number of poles that were just snapped off and all the cables down too, not just the electric but the phones lines too. The Gruinart/ Ardnave area is badly hit, Port Ellen is/ was down, nothing at Ballinaby etc, Portnahaven out too. With the poor weather birds are thin on the ground, but got some all the same.... The Bolton birders had a Cormorant on the River Sorn yesterday, and noticed it flying upstream soon after. This morning they spotted a male Brambling on the feeders here at their cottage. Mick and Edmund had 60 Golden Plover over at Saligo, 20 Chough at Ardnave and 6 different male Stonechats as they went round Loch Gorm.

Sunday 17th February

A great day out here although the wind was a bit gusty, especially when you are out bird watching... Yesterday George had 6 Wigeon and also 6 Mallard on his ponds, later on he had seen 4 Brambling up towards Briago. Today as he was leaving his house down at Bruichladdich, a male Hen Harrier flew past and up towards Bunahabhain George saw 2 White tailed sea Eagles. This morning I was out with Bob and Martin doing the count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck. Our list was follows, 1 Mute Swan, 20 Shelduck, 12 Red breasted Merganser, 14 Eider, 6 Mallard, 161 Wigeon, 51 Teal, 6 Goldeneye, 3 Cormorant, 15 Shag, 6 Rock Pipit, 1 Carrion crow, 1 Heron, 173 Oystercatcher, 73 Curlew, 121 Barwits, 5 Redshank, 40 Knot, 73 Dunlin, 3 Sanderling, 18 Turnstone, 10 Lapwing, 24 Ringed Plover, 13 Grey Plover, 3 Black backed Gull, 80 Herring Gull, 20 Black headed Gull and 60 Common Gull. No Divers were seen at all, possibly they were sheltering in from the wind! We also had a ringtail Hen Harrier out down towards the council rubbish tip at Gartbreck. On my home I did see a GND and also 4 Common Scoter close to the shore just as I was coming out of Bowmore.
If you are over on Islay this coming week, Gordon Yates will be giving an illustrated talk on "The World of Birds" at 7.30 pm on Thursday at the Islay Natural History Trust in Port Charlotte.

Wednesday 6th February

A good day with the weather out here today, all be it that it was a wee bit on the cool side, it did remain dry, but it's that time of year! Clive had a pair of Bullfinches today at Cragabus on the Oa. Yesterday, the Lochwinnoch birders had a great sighting of an Otter down at Bruichladdich and watched it for quite some time. Later on, on their way up to Ardnave they had 10 Brambling along with a large number of  Reed Bunting. Late, this afternoon, they had a Tawny Owl down close to "smelly corner" 

Monday 4th February

Yes, the Fulmars must be a sign of impeding bad weather, as today it has been something else. I know it has windy, a gust of 63mph was recorded on Mike weather station at 06.53, and even now the wind is rolling around, fortunately no damage done. We are not alone as Calmac, our ferry operator on the West coast of Scotland, have got 10 ferry crossings cancelled out, including our service to Islay, there is one ferry sailing "normally" and the rest of the fleet on "amber alert", not that I would really want to go on the ferry when the wind is what it is like at present!!! Michal at the weekend had found a dead Little Auk on the shore close to Killinallan. I thought that the figures for the big garden birdwatch that we had were big, well today I think that we have had even more birds present including 3 Dunnock, 2 Robin and 12 Goldfinches. The Chaffinches and Greenfinches just kept rotating around and proved too difficult to count. The female Brambling was seen as well, nice to see it especially on the feeders close to the kitchen window! 

Thursday 31st January

Yes, another mixed day, but come to thinkof it no sunshine, yes some rain and plenty wind. Mike had a 59mph gust at 07.10 this morning, the ferry came over this morning and stayed put with no more sailings...

Mary had a Barn Owl at Blackpark as she went home this evening. Earlier on James had 2 Yellowhammer and 4 Brambling up towards Garra Eallabus on the way up to Ardnave. There was a female Brambling amongst the Chaffinch mob in at the feeders here at home today. 

Tuesday 22nd January

A better day out here folks, could the mercury have gone up a little as well? Joking apart, yesterday when I was down in Bowmore I saw one of the Council lorries with a snow plough on, it looked rather rusty with lack of use!!! Some sightings through from Malcolm. Last week while out counting on the Goose Counts on the Loch Gorm run , Malcolm saw 260 Golden Plover at Ballinaby on the 16th, the previous day there had been none there! This morning at Bruichladdich, Malcolm counted 23 Pale bellied Brent Geese, an Otter was there too! Bob this afternoon had a count of 122 Scaup at Blackrock. Over at Bunnahabhain, Bob saw the Iceland Gull, 15 Twite, 1 Kestrel, 3 Buzzard, 2 Golden Eagle and a White tailed Sea Eagle. This morning, here at home we had a female Brambling on the bird table, it came back a little later for seconds. Hope it is still here for the Big garden Birdwatch this coming weekend!

Wednesday 16th January

A really early entry today as I am going out this evening plus the fact the weather outside is the pits at present and I have got the rest of Gareth Stamp's weekend birds to share with you. On Sunday, from Bowmore, out on Loch Indaal Gareth had 7 Long tailed Ducks, 26 Common Scoter, 4 Slavonian Grebe, 3 GND and 200 Barwits. Past Bridgend, again Loch Indaal the following birds were seen, 100 Barwits, 135 Scaup, 98 Common Scoter, 52 Red breasted Merganser, 14 Slav Grebe, 4 Long tailed Duck, 13 Red throated Diver, 8 GND and 2 Whooper Swan. Just before Bruichladdich, 2 Black Guillemot, 1 Black throated Diver, 3 GND and 5 Slav Grebe. Round at Saligo Bay 30 Twite, 1 Kestrel and 1 Black throated Diver were present. There were also 3 Greenland Whitefronts with neck collars on. From the viewing platform at Gruinart the Canada Goose hutchinsii sp was seen again, 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Blackwit, 6 Pintail, 7 Whooper Swan and also a Golden Eagle out above the hillside opposite the platform. On the way up to Ardnave Gareth had 4 Brambling and at least 10 Reed Bunting. At Ardnave Loch, there were 10 Whooper Swans and 1 Little Grebe as well as a count of 55 Chough out on the wing. Many thanks to Gavin for sharing his sightings with us all.

Friday 30th November

Almost another month away, and by the look of things a drier month than the November last year, bet not many places can say that! Today Bob had a Brambling in his garden, and he saw a House Sparrow with white feathers in the cap of its head and also a pink beak! The other day, Bob had been looking for that elusive Red breasted Goose, but no joy, but on the floods at Gruinart he had 168 Teal, 8 Goldeneye, 85 Wigeon, 4 Whooper Swans, 200 Greylags along with 60 Whitefronts. The Barnies were resting up out on the estuary itself, as they are doing at present at the head of Loch Indaal, with the full moon they are mostly eating through the night. Yesterday at home Bob had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier out quartering and later on a Short eared Owl also out hunting.

Wednesday 28th November

Last night was the monthly meeting of the Islay Bird nerds, so managed to get a few sightings through from those there of sightings that had not come through earlier. Down at Bruichladdich, George had seen 2 Otters the other day. Paul B. had seen 2 Golden Eagles down on the Oa on Tuesday, and up at Craigens he had 3 Brambling amongst a mixed flock of finches. This morning, before he left for home, Paul had an Otter about 30 yards from where he was standing along with his dog, the Otter was quite unfazed! Mary, back from her holiday on Tobago, had 3 Barn Owls down towards Portnahaven. Up in one of the fields beside his house, Bob had a flock of around 400  Ravens earlier in the week. Many thanks to Paul Beresford for sharing his sightings with us and see you again next year!

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.

Saturday 27th October

A visiting birder from Argyll had seen a seen a Siberian Chiffchaff in Ballygrant Woods yesterday and on Friday a female Blackcap was down at Ardbeg. The Red breasted Goose yesterday was also seen yesterday behind Bruichladdich up towards Conisby. Today it was up towards Kilnave, it does not half get about!!! James today had a juv White tailed Sea Eagle at Gruinart, and amongst the geese he had a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp. Another birder this evening was telling me of seeing the same group of 4 Canada Geese down at Bowmore that Peter Thorp had seen earlier on in the week. The Leigh birders yesterday cracked the 100 species seen during their visit with a Song Thrush...On Loch Indaal, Common Scoter were seen along with the Long tailed Duck. On their way up to Sanaigmore they saw the large flock of Chaffinches and the Brambling was still present with them. It's been great over here this past week with so many visiting birders around, almost like the Bird Fair at Rutland, but not so busy or not even so warm.... Thanks to Lynne and Chris from Bedfordshire, Gordon and Pauline from Rochdale, Chris and Tony from Bolton, Pauline, Ian, David and Anne from Leigh, Danny, Wanda and Peter from Teme Valley and also Andrew Harrop who first spotted the Red breasted Goose if my memory serves me correctly, so many sightings just great, no doubt we will all meet up next year!

Sunday 14th October

Another wee drop of rain through the night, almost 4.5" so far this month and it is only the 14th... at least we got a great day although the ground is soaking wet!!! Was out with Bob this morning  doing a count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck, the scores on the doors were as follows 4 Greylags, 900 Barnacle Geese, 126 Curlew, 159 Oystercatcher, 40 Red breasted Merganser, 22 Eider, 3 Heron, 53 Shag, 77 Golden Plover, 24 Mallard, 15 Redshank, 86 Bar tailed Godwit, 12 Turnstone, 3 Pintail and 6 Knot. 2 of the Knot were less than 4 metres away and fearless, but neither Bob or myself  had a camera!! On the "Moss road" leading down to the shoreline, there were several Reed Buntings, Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks and a Coal Tit in the bushes. The Golden Plover in the sunlight were great to see as well. Earlier on Bob had counted 45 Pale bellied Brents at Gartmain. Back at home this afternoon, Bob had a Greylag with a collar on it, so Bob will give us more info on it once he hears back about it. Late afternoon, he had 6 Whoopers out on the stubble field directly in front of his house and later a further 22 on Loch Gearach. On his way home, Bob saw a Short eared Owl. Malcolm had seen an adult Pinkfooted Goose amongst the Barnies round at Ballinaby this morning. Peter, Pia and the "hound" had taken a walk up to Gortantoid this morning, a very productive walk too. At Gortantoid itself, they had several small groups of Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers numbering between 5 - 10 birds. The best was still to  come with a male Firecrest, a Yellow browed Warbler, a Chiffchaff and also a Brambling. Gavin had been out to Claggain Bay today, and had 2 Red throated Divers, 1 Great Northern Diver, 1 Black Guillemot and a Bottle nosed Dolphin. Back on land, he counted a flock of 50 Redwing. Earlier on he had seen the juv. White tailed Sea Eagle take a wader, it landed on the shore and ate it!!! Other visitors from Leigh had started their visit off this morning with seeing Great Northern Divers, Red Throated Divers and Scaup on Loch Indaal from Bowmore. 

There is a guided walk at Gruinart on Wednesday. Meet at the Visitor Centre at 17.30 to see the geese coming back into roost for folk who are over on Islay this week, all welcome.