Monday 17th February

A miserable kind of a day out here today, after having a great day yesterday, just as well that I have some sightings from yesterday for you!The Hampshire birders had a juv White tailed Sea Eagle putting the Barnies up at "smelly corner", offshore they had 4 Red breasted Merganser, GND, Teal and Wigeon with Barwits there too. They also spotted a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp amongst the Barnies. Down on the Oa they saw Chough, Rock Pipit and also Rock Doves. Mary had 5 Purple Sandpipers at Bruichladdich, over at Coal Ila, she had 4 Black Guillemot along with 2 Otters. At Kilchiaran, Mary noticed the Fulmars back in, Mistle Thrushes were present too and later on a juv Golden Eagle. The Rochdale birders had also seen the White tailed Sea Eagle, over at Finlaggan, they had a Woodcock with 11 Red legged Partridge at Ardnahoe and then a Sparrowhawk bothering the lbj flock at Corsapol. Ed had see 6 Long tailed Tits and a Treecreeper on his way out towards Ardtalla

Thursday 18th April

Another busy day in with walkislay, apart from the odd shower here and there, the weather held out for the 4 walks that took place today. Last  walk is tomorrow, over to Jura for an assualt on one of the Paps. On Wednesday, James had seen a Canada Goose huthinsii sp on the flats at Gruinart. Karen had a Wheatear along at Rockside yesterday, we had one there tonight and another down close to Gortan. On the walk out from Laphroaig this morning, Armin had 4 Swallows! Today Malcolm had a pr of Siskins on his feeders, not having seen any at all this winter there. He also had 2 pr of Greenfinches 2 pr of Chaffinches and a pair of Goldfinch. There still appear to be quite a few flocks of Barnies around, coming home this evening at the top of Loch Indaal, there was a large number present with the tide being out. Earlier on we had seen flocks of Barnies at Rockside, Gartmain, Gartbreck and Rannochmore as well.

Sunday 17th March

Went out with Bob this morning along with 2 visiting birders to do the count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck. The birds seen were as follows, 6 Mute Swans, 80 Barnacle Geese, 23 Greenland Whitefronts, 1 Canada Goose hutchinsii sp., 21 Shelduck, 42 Mallard, 60 Wigeon, 42 Teal, 8 Red breasted Merganser, 20 Eider, 3 Goldeneye, 3 GND, 1 RTD, 3 Cormorant, 12 Shag, 4 GBB Gull, 50 Herring Gull, 20 Black headed Gull, 10 Common Gull, 47 Oystercatcher, 5 Barwits, 50 Curlew, 4 Redshank, 1 Grenshank, 34 Dunlin, 41 Turnstone, 1 Lapwing, 2 Grey Plover, 20 Ringed Plover and 2 Snipe. Not the warmest of days, but job done! The Turnstone as ever, never really batted an eyelid and we were really close to them, amazing how they blend into the background on the shoreline

Monday 4th March

This image of one of the Canada Geese hutchinsii sp, resting up with some of the Barnies taken last Thursday at the top of Loch Indaal by Pavel Ruzel, one of the visiting Czech birders. Thanks to Pavel.

David Jardine returned home yesterday, but managed a few more sightings before heading back across the water... Saturday evening, David had a Tawny Owl at Bridgend. On Loch Indaal, out from Bowmore, 7 Scaup, 27 Common Scoter, and 8 Slavonian Grebes were seen. The possible Black necked Grebe that David had seen the other day turned out to be a moulting Slavonian Grebe. Loch Tallant, 3 Water Rails were heard calling. At Cruach, 7 Yellowhammers were seen, the Moorhen was present at Carnain and a male Goosander was noted on Loch Skerrols. New arrivals, Kathie, Mick, Dave and Jacquie saw a White tailed Sea Eagle from the ferry as they came over on Saturday. Yesterday they had a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp amongst the Barnies at Gruinart, round Loch Gorm they had 3 Hen Harriers (2 male and a ringtail), a Golden Eagle and 2 Raven. Up at Ardnave they had a Merlin, a count of 45 Chough and lateron another ringtail Hen Harrier, on Arnave Loch, 8 Whoopers were seen. Today on Loch Indaal they had 3 Scaup and down on the Oa, 2 Peregrine, 2 Chough, a male and a ringtail Hen Harrier were present as was a flock of 26 Twite. Here at home, late afternoon 14 Chough were doing their acrobatics over the crag.

Friday 1st March

That's another month in, a dry month thank goodness with  a mere 2.6" in total here, almost half of what we had last February, better not shout about it too much.... Den Mather and his 2 Czech birders had a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp amongst the Barnacle geese at the top of Loch Indaal. Up towards Sanaigmore they saw some Choughs on the road and finally at Laggan road end they had a ringtail Hen Harrier, their fourth in 2 days. Thanks folks for your birds. Today, out in the field in front of his house Bob watched a nesting Lapwing protect its its' territory against a Peregrine. The Peregrine swooped over a few times and the Lapwing had enough and took flight to chase the Peregrine, but the Peregrine forced the Lapwing back down on the ground and then the female Peregrine came out of nowhere and zapped the Lapwing and carried it off as if it was a smaller bird. On a happier note Michal around midday saw a Pipestrelle Bat out flying in the garden at Mill cottage on Gruinart

Wednesday 20th February

Another dry day out here although there is a lazy wind that goes straight through you coming from the East as well, not a warm wind! By the way, the stars last night were tremendous to see, but it is overcast just now, so doubt if there will be any stargazing here later on... Bob today had been out Goose counting with Fiona. On Loch Indaal, with clear skies last night, some of the Barnies were resting up as the tide receded, along with the Barnies was a Pink footed Goose as well as a Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp , possibly the geese that frequent the Mulindry area! Up the Glen road, several mixed flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare were seen and also 5 Mistle Thrushes too. Down close to the radio mast at Cruach, just outside Bowmore a  flock of finches came off the stubble field, in their number there was at least 1 pr of Yellowhammer. At Tallant, 45 Golden Plover were counted and finally down at Gartbreck several groups of Skylarks were seen, the largest flock being 30 in number.

Saturday 16th February

A lot of birds for you tonight, coming in from all around, here goes...On Thursday, Malcolm had 5 species of geese in one field. Over at Ballytarsin there were around 1400 Barnacle Geese, 41 Whitefronts, 1 Pink footed Goose, 3 Pale bellied Brent and a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp. Later on Malcolm had 24 Pale bellied Brent on Loch Indaal, just below the "Power Generating station" at the edge of Bowmore. Yesterday the Hampshire birders had Long tailed Duck and Common Scoter on Loch Indaal. Round Carnain their highlights included Curlew, Scaup, Heron and Wren. Today in the same area they had a male Hen Harrier, Song Thrush and Rock Pipit. On a walk up to Loch Cam, later on they saw 2 Golden Eagles, 4 Chough and 2 Snipe. Bob had a male Hen Harrier up behind Port Charlotte, a Sparrowhawk down in Port Charlotte and also Lapwing displaying up in the fields beside his house. Last night on our way over to Bunnahabhain, after The Woolen Mill and on our way to our destination, we saw a total of 5 Barn Owls out on the wing, great to see! James today had a walk round Ardnave. His top birds included 32 Chough, 34 Raven, 1 Grey Plover, 10 GND, 7 Skylarks (1 attempting to sing!) 1 White tailed Sea Eagle (juvenile bird) out over towards Nave Island, 5 Cormorant and the leucistic Barwit was seen too. Back home at Grainel, he counted 45 Skylarks later on. Anna had a couple of Goldeneye in the harbour in Bowmore today, down close to Port Ellen she had more ducks and geese there as well as a couple of Shelduck. Late this afternoon, over the house here, we had 23 Chough in a flypast, pity they were not here the other week, it could have confused the Big garden birdwatch computer!!!!