Wednesday 5th February

Another good day out here with the weather, not that a lot of folk can say that today. Carl, today had counted 75 Curlew down at Port Ban. The Lochwinnoch birders shared some sightings through as well, yesterday they had 3 Purple Sandpipers at Bruichladdichh, a Black Guillemot on the Sound of Islay off Coal Ila. Today they had 11 GND and 11 R B Merganser in the bay at Port Ellen. Later on up behind Port Charlotte they had 16 Fieldfare and 24 Redwing, along at Kilchiaran Bay a Glaucous Gull was present.

Friday 31st January

Yesterday afternoon Peter had been down on Machir Bay for a walk with his dog and managed some bird watching too. On the tideline amongst the seaweed there were 5 Twite and a pr of Reed Buntings poking around with a Snipe taking off from there too. Further along the beach there were 20 Ringed Plover with 85 Curlew present up on the fields above the beach. On the negative side, Peter found 2 dead Razorbills and a dead Puffin on the beach which obviously had been washed up after the recent storms, the Puffin had a bright red beak. Thanks Peter for that, as the weather today has not been great, and certainly no good for bird watching unless you were looking art the birds eating away good style on your feeders!

Tuesday 26th November

Today the WWT guys, whilst carrying out research on Greenland White-fronted Geese, had seen 2 Golden Eagles and a Peregrine at Coille, Merlin at Kilchoman and Tawny Owl at Gruinart. On Sunday they also had a young Golden Eagle, a White-tailed Sea Eagle at Gruinart.
Back to today, James had 2 Goldcrest and 2 Hen Harriers also at Gruinart. Whilst RSPB volunteers, John and Amy, had 14 Yellowhammer, 12 Curlew and a Chough all at Kintra.

Sunday 7th July

Peter yesterday had seen 3 Great spotted Woodpeckers flying together over the back of Ballygrant, one was definitely a female, so could this possibly have been another first for Islay, a breeding pr of Woodpeckers?? Coming home Peter counted 50 Barwits at Blackrock. Bob had counted 104 Curlew, mostly juv birds and also 4 Common Sandpipers at Carnain the other morning. He has also had a brood of Willow Warblers in his garden, over at Loch Gorm Bob saw 2 Herons. Here at home there has been a Collared Dove hanging around the last couple of days. No more news of the Frigatebird, sorry folks!

Monday 25th March

Here on Islay, the electric board boys are winning the battle, with praise coming from all around. It is still rather cool, think the phone lines will take longer to restore as they do not appear to have the same number of back up crews...The Bolton birders had seen 24 Oystercatcher, 12 Twite and 6 Redwing in a field over at Ardtalla. In Ardtalla Bay, they had 8 Red breasted Merganser, 2 Mute Swan, 4 Eider, 4 Shelduck and 6 Turnstone. On Loch Indaal, just out of Bowmore, 8 Pale bellied Brent Geese and a female Goldeneye were present. Coming home, they counted 70 Teal at Carnain with 2 Mute Swan in the pools there. Along the flats at Gruinart, a male Stonechat was seen, and at Ballinaby the Golden Plover, Ringed Plover and Lapwing were still there from yesterday, but today 6 Whoopers were also there along with 22 Curlew. Betweeen Saligo and Coull, a Barn Owl was out early at 6.15pm! Finally at Coull roadend, they counted 46 Curlew. Today Mick saw a Dipper at the mouth of Glen Logan on the Sound of Islay. Wally and Jude had a Greenshank and their first Barwit (this visit) over past Bun an Uillt. They also reported that another visitor saw a White tailed Sea Eagle over close to Port Ellen. James had a juv. WTSE over at Gruinart yesterday and later on a Peregrine Falcon over his house. Early this evening James counted 10 Whoopers over at the ponds on the flats at Gruinart. I saw 2 Whoopers fly in from the sea heading towards Rockside around midday.

Sunday 9th December

A great day over here for December, the main thing about it was that it stayed dry! Yesterday, down at Blackrock where Carrabus Burn enters Loch Indaal, 6 Pale bellied Brent Geese were seen. Coming back up the road a wee while later on, there was a Kestrel sat up a pole at the side of the road along  by Loch Gorm. Possibly the same bird that Bob had the other day, and also the same bird that I have been seeing quite often lately in the same locality. This morning Peter and Pia had been down on the Machir Bay walking their dog, and had seen 70 Curlew. Later on, Carl also had been down at the Machir Bay seeing Merlin, Turnstone and Sanderling and an increase in Curlews present, around 200 when Carl was there.