Sunday 7th April

Almost a week away in April and it is not getting much warmer, at least it is staying dry! Quite a few sightings for you tonight, so here we go.... On Friday, Mary had 2 Wheatears up at Ardnave. Yesterday, down at Portnahaven, there were 2 large Canada Geese in the Bay. Today they had moved up to Claddach Loch. The Chough down at Portnahaven have been active of late flying around over the village.  Peter on Thursday had a pr of Grey Wagtail and also a Dipper on the River Sorn. In the trees there, a Treecreeper was seen and also several Goldcrest. Yesterday, between Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte, Peter had 9 GND, but all none in summer plumage. Today over at Loch Allan, the birds were out singing good style, Wrens everywhere, plenty of singing Chaffinches,  Dunnocks, Robins, Tits in general including several Coal Tit as well as 6 Goldcrest and 3 Treecreepers. Overhead a Sparrowhawk flew past. Later on a Bullfinch was seen. Peter also had a Greater spotted Woodpecker, his first on Islay. On Loch Allan itself, 2 separate Little Grebes were heard calling and a pr of Tufted Duck were present. Martin has had no Goldfinches for some time at his feeders, but today he put out some Nyger seed and within 15 minutes had his first one! Martin now reckons that he has had 9 today plus a Siskin, eating on either the Nyger seed or on the other food which has been on offer all of this time! Visitors had seen Chough up at Ardnave and also a Golden Eagle, a Merlin and Peregrine up there too. Earlier this morning, they had 3 Sandwich Terns down at Machir Bay. This evening along at Sunderland Farm, we saw a mixed flock of Geese, mainly Greenland Whitefronts, some Greylags, a few Barnies as well as 8 large Canada Geese. For the last few Springs, we seem to have had the appearance of a few large Canadas, but fortunately for us, they move on!

Wednesday 24th October

An early entry for the blog for once! The Leigh birders had split into 2 groups yesterday, David and Anne stayed here on Islay. At Blackrock they had 6 GND, 4 RTD, also 5 Slavonian Grebe, 7 Red breasted Merganser and 23 Eider. Down at Machir Bay they had 16 Chough, and on the "new pool" there, a mixed flock of Herring and Common Gulls, around 200 in all. From there, they also saw  4 Buzzards out, and 3 Stonechats. On Machir Bay itself they had a Greater Black backed Gull along with Oystercatcher and Sanderling.  A large flock of Barnies were in the air over towards Coull Point. Round Loch Gorm they had 5 Golden Plover, 12 Reed Bunting, c200 Starling, many hundreds of Barnies, 90 Greylag and 65 Whitefronts. A male Hen Harrier was seen and then chased on by a gang of Hooded Crows! Pauline and Ian headed back to Jura, towards Ardfin they had a Coal Tit, Wren, Dunnock, Great Tit, Blue Tit and heard 2 Buzzards calling. A pr of Treecreepers were also seen there. Further on the Rowan berries more Redwings and Fieldfares were noted as well as a further 2 Blue Tits. Up past Craighouse they had 2 Goldcrest, and then more Redwing , Blackbirds and 2 Mistle Thrush on the scrubland. A ringtail Hen Harrier was seen over the moor and then a sub adult Golden Eagle close to the road. A Reed Bunting was calling close to one of the cattle grids and a Wren and also another Stonechat seen there as well. Finally up the top end of Jura, they heard a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Another good day but still missing is an Otter...Danny and his team seen 2 Golden Eagles up towards Sanaigmore today, down in Sanaigmore Bay were 2 GND. At the top of Loch Indaal, they saw 4 RTD, 8 Red breasted Merganser and 2 Cormorants that were actively fishing away. Jura was the destination for the Bolton birders today, before lunch they had a male Hen Harrier on the moor above Lowlandman's Bay and a ringtail later on in the afternoon in the same location. They had another ringtail over the woodland up at Ardlussa, in the bay past Ardlussa, an Otter was seen briefly with 5 Stonechats at Lealt. A charm of 12 Goldfinches were noted on the felled plantation. A large flock of over 700 Fieldfare was seen moving through along with some Redwing and Mistle Thrush. Back on Loch Indaal, on the Bridgend side of Blackrock, 4 Slavonian Grebe were with a large raft of Scaup and a female Goldeneye.