Tuesday 14th January

This morning, Ed had a Common Crane over at Loch Skerrols. The geese were uneasy and Ed had a quick look around and saw the Crane flying South East... Bob had been out on the Ballygrant/ Keills run doing the Goose count today. At Esknish he saw a pr of Bullfinches, shortly afterwards a Red legged Partridge, possibly a formerly released bird. Along at Keills, a Grey Wagtail was spotted and then a Sparrowhawk further on. Bob was saying that there were several groups of Reed Buntings about, the geese themselves appeared to be quite skittish today! Here at home, a Peregrine zipped past

Sunday 12th January

As forecast, the weather was not too great, rather a dreich sort of a day, wet and raw.. The other day, James had a Grey Wagtail over at Craigens, on the reserve he saw 4 Greenshank out on the "floods" with a count of 960 Golden Plover over the reserve as well. George was in touch to say that the 3 Whoopers were still present on his ponds this morning, also there were 25 Whitefronts, 8 Mallard and also a Heron.

Monday 25th November

Whilst gathering sheep on the hills of the Oa today we saw 2 Golden Eagles, 3 Woodcock, 5 Snipe, and a female type Hen Harrier. Some counts from the Oa from last Friday included 427 Twite, 51 Chaffinch, 54 Golden Plover and a Grey Wagtail.
Today, Pete had seen a Water Rail well when flushed from a ditch at Bolsa Track near Port Charlotte. The saga in his garden continues with a very bold rook flying off with the food he put out for the Blackcap yesterday. Undaunted he has crushed another one of his fat balls and put that in a more sheltered spot in the garden in the hope that smaller birds may find it more accessible......

Wednesday 13th November

Yesterday, there was a reported sighting of a late Swallow over the rooftops down at Port Charlotte by Carol Andrews. Today over at Gruinart, John W. had 3 Greenshank together and he also saw the Green winged Teal amongst the Teal present. Later on, John had a female Hen Harrier and over at Craigens a Grey Wagtail was present. Here at home there have been a few Greenfinches on the bird table and the Goldfinches are making a quick job on the Nyjer seeds each time when the feeder is refilled, a couple of years ago they did not want to know about Nyjer seeds, changed days!!!

Wednesday 6th November

Yesterday, Bob and John O had been over towards Bunnahabhain. On the way there, they saw 3 Bullfinches on the overhead wires and several flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare migrating through. At Dunlossit, a male Sparrowhawk was seen, and back at Port Charlotte, John O had a Merlin fly past the kitchen window this morning! Michael this morning counted 28 Whoopers fly out to sea from down at the Coastguard cottage. Left behind in the field was a Pinkie along with the Greylags, and also a Pale bellied Brent amongst the Barnies!!! The 2 Long tailed Duck were still on Ardnave Loch, over at Traigh Nostaig, 36 Ringed Plover, 21 Sanderling and 16 Turnstone were present with 48 Chough working their way at looking for food in the sea weed. On the floods at Gruinart, a Hen Harrier put up a Blackwit. Over at Bun an Uillt, 71 Shelduck, 57 Pintail, 40 Shoveler, drake Gadwall, 19 R B Merganser, 2 Greenshank and 5 Turnstone were seen on Gruinart estuary. On the road back down close to Craigens, a Grey Wagtail was seen. Coming back to his cottage, Michael had 2 ringtail Hen Harriers.

Wednesday 30th October

The RAFOS team had been out and about around Islay yesterday, a White tailed Sea Eagle was seen flying over Claggain Bay. While they were doing the farmland Bird survey down on the Oa, a Sparrowhawk put up a couple of flocks with over 100 Twite in each lot. 40 Chough were noted up at Ardnave while a Blackcap was seen back home in the trees in front of the cottages. They also commented on seeing our large flocks of Geese, not only on the ground, but also the large numbers in the air too. Gordon and Pauline had been over at Bunnahabhain this morning and had seen an adult WTSE flying over on the Jura side of the Sound of Islay. Whilst they were there, an Otter was seen and 70 Redwing were counted flying South down the Sound. Earlier on they had a Grey Wagtail "fighting" against its' own reflection on the window of their cottage in Port Charlotte!

Sunday 13th October

Last night just at the darkening before the light faded completely, Armin had an Otter over at Saligo Bay. Moments later, when it was dark he saw a shooting star in the sky, needless to say the camera was packed away.  Andrew and Jane are back over and had seen a couple of Whooper Swans along with some Whitefronts at Octomore, out on Loch Indaal they had seen 3 RTD. Also yesterday, David and Brenda from Yorkshire had been over on Jura and saw 2 Grey Wagtails up at Lagg. Back on Friday, James had seen a White tailed Sea Eagle over towards Port Askaig. Today, James had a Golden Eagle down on the Oa, back home later on, he had a Merlin and a Sparrowhawk. This morning, I went out to help Bob on his count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck with our tally being as follows, 6 Cormorant, 76 Shag, 6 Heron, 1500 Barnies, 400 Greylag, 8 Pale bellied Brent, 2 Whooper Swan, 27 Mallard, 36 Teal, 5 Wigeon, 3 Eider, 30 Red breasted Merganser, 25 GBB Gull, 80 Herring Gull, 100 Common Gull, 3 BH Gull, 25 Snipe, 51 Oystercatcher, 12 Curlew, 4 Barwits, 4 Redshank, 5 Dunlin, 4 Turnstone, 3 Ringed Plover, 440 Golden Plover, 69 Lapwing. Bob counted 520 Wigeon all together at Gartmain and also 18 RB Merganser at Uiskentuie prior to meeting up. Also further out on Loch Indaal, there was a Black Guillemot. Peter had been up at Gruinart and the sky was full of Barnies. Other geese seen were a Canada hutchuinsii sp., 4 Pinkies and also 2 Whitefronts with collars. He also reported seeing some Swallows today. 

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!

Saturday 2nd March

Phil and Kath headed home today, but before leaving had 2 Hen Harriers up behind Port Charlotte, they also saw some frog spawn close to The Gearach while on the former Distillery pond at Port Charlotte itself, they had 2 Moorhen. Thanks folks for your sightings. Peter today had been up towards Bunnahabhain and had seen the White tailed Sea Eagle, the Iceland Gull was present as was a Goldcrest. He also saw a Peregrine being mobbed by 3 Ravens. Down on Loch Skerrols, 6 Goldeneye were present. David Jardine who is over birding had a good day starting off with a Grey Wagtail at Bridgend. Other highlights included a Knot amongst some Curlew down at Machir Bay, 2 Sanderling were also there. A Greenshank was seen at Gruinart, with Shoveler and Gadwall seen along with the ducks there. Up towards Garra Eallabus, 2 Brambling were spotted in the "game crop" while off Arnave, David had 3 Gannets. Purple Sandpiper were  at Bruichladdich, while over off Bowmore there was a possible Black necked Grebe amongst some Slavonian Grebe

Monday 25th February

Visitors yesterday had seen a male Goosander on the River Sorn. Up at Bunnahabhain they saw a Dabchick out on the sea feeding. They wondered if it was out on the sea as the freshwater lochs could have been frozen over? Phil and Cath had been down on the Oa today. A Peregrine Falcon was seen, some Fulmars were on the cliifs with a 6 Gannets flying past. Later on, they counted a flock of 50 Skylarks. This afternoon, up towards Loch Skerrols they saw a Grey Wagtail and down on the River Sorn, a Dipper was added to their list.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday evening, it time for the "Islay bird nerds" monthly meeting. We will be meeting in the ICCI or Gaelic Centre just outside Bowmore at 7.30pm. We hope to have some Owl pellets to have a look at, and Peter is going to be talking about a proposed "nerds visit" to Spain. So if you are over here on Islay, come along...We are holding the meeting there so that the folk from the Port Ellen end do not have so far to travel, a bit more central.

Wednesday 13th February

It may well have been a lot of rain here today, but think positive in the sense at least we had no snow here on the West coast of Islay, mind you the fields etc are just a mass of water...Fortunately, our Hampshire birders had given me through some sightings from yesterday when they went on a walk out to Daill and then on out to Scouller. On their way up to Daill, they saw a Grey Wagtail, plenty of Chaffinches, Coal Tit and Reed Buntings. In the steading at Daill, they had a male Bullfinch, House Sparrows, Starlings and Chaffinches. Out close towards Scouller, 4 Chough were present, and on their return leg whilst crossing a ford, a Sparrowhawk was added to their list for the day.

Thursday 18th October

Sorry folks, should have done the blog before going out, so here goes, some will be "Extra" on Friday's entry!!! Carl, earlier this week seen a male Hen Harrier at Coull with another round at Ballinaby. At the weekend he had a fall of Goldcrests in his garden at Port Charlotte. This evening he had a couple of Red throated Divers at Gortan with 6  Whoopers out over Loch Indaal. This afternoon we counted  57 Whoopers at Rockside, a Merlin screamed past there too with a further 38 Whoopers along at Sunderland. Coming home, the Sunderland swans remained but the Rockside Swans were all gone, all in about 90 minutes!! The Bolton birders are back, and just before teatime, they had 78 Golden Plover, 20 Ringed Plover, 1 Sanderling and 4 Turnstone down on Machir Bay. Coming over on the ferry on Tuesday, just off MacArthur's Head they saw a pod of  8 Bottle nosed Dolphins out round one of the local fishing boats out checking the lobster pots! Yesterday they had a Dipper on the Sorn with a ringtail Hen Harrier on the reserve at Gruinart, and there today, they had a female Merlin fly up from a fence post post beside the road up and then perch on a telegraph pole.Yesterday the Stewartry SOC team had been out, some up the East side of Gruinart where they had 2 Greenshank, over 70 Redshank, a flock of over 100 Twite. South of Port Charlotte a ringtail Hen Harrier was spotted. The others in the group had seen a "very old (mature)" Golden Eagle out towards Bunnahabhain, several Redwing on their travels, a Grey Wagtail at Bridgend and a male Hen Harrier at Cluanach. Gavin had been over to Jura yesterday with an Otter being the highlight, especially for his 2 young sons! Birds seen included 4 Hen Harriers (2 male and 2 ringtail), a total of 6 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 8 Ringed Plover and 3 Red breasted Merganser.  Have kept the Leigh birders entry on as an "extra" for tomorrow as the clock is ticking away and this will almost be Friday by the time it is posted...whoops...