Monday 24th February

A better day out here today with the weather, although there is rain forecast for tonight, oops!!! Paul B had sent some sightings through. The small flock of Scaup were still present today, along with a cracking male Long tailed Duck on Loch Indaal out from the generator station outside Bowmore. Further out on Loch Indaal, 4 Slavonian Grebes and 30 Common scoters were present. Over at Bruichladdich, Paul had a small gropup of 4 Pale bellied Brent Geese. Further on down the Rhinns, a Golden Eagle was seen and at Kilchiaran Bay, Gannets, Fulmars and Kittiwakes were added to Paul's list. Back here at home, the Fulmars were back this morning on the crag, a sign of some stormy weather to come again??? The Iceland Gull was still present over at Duich Farm.

Thursday 13th February

Yesterday the Hampshire birders had a quick walk from Carnain along the shoreline to Blackrock, quite a few Shelduck,10 Dunlin,Ringed Plover and also 3 carcases of Barnies, wonder if that pesky Sea Eagle had been at them? Today they had been up at Ardnave seeing Redshank, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Tufted Duck, Chough, Pied Wagtail, Skylark, Reed Bunting with a GND offshore. Later on down at Portnahaven, they saw some Turnstone. Peter today, had seen 2 Long tailed Duck on Loch Indaal off Bowmore.

Friday 27th December

I had a slow drive to Bowmore today, spending time birdwatching on the way. The windy weather made it difficult to pick birds out, but I found a few- 2 Long Tailed Ducks, 1 Slavonian Grebe, 2 Common Scoter, a Kittiwake and some Scaup. I met a birdwatcher who had seen a Snow Bunting at Ardnave and had 2 Golden Eagles over the Oa yesterday.

Thursday 14th November

Over at Claggain Bay today, John W. had 2 Long tailed Ducks, earlier on he had 2 Goldcrests and a Treecreeper on his way there. Later on he had a male Hen Harrier while over on the Oa. Yesterday Ed had 5 Goldeneye and 2 Long tailed Ducks on Ardnave. There appears to be some more Long tailed Ducks around this Autumn round Islay.  Wearing his official "hat" Ed saw 2 collared Whitefronts both caught and collared in Wexford, one was originally caught in 2001 and last seen back in 2007 and then had gone awol since then, until Ed saw it again.

Monday 4th November

Loads of birds- Yesterday Bob and John O were out birding. At Laggan Point they had a White Tailed Eagle, at the Laundry Loch 1000 Teal, 400 Wigeon and 12 Whooper Swans. At Skerrols, Lots of swans- 54 Mute Swans, 52 Whooper Swans, 68 wigeon, 1 Little Grebe and a Coot, at Blackrock 158 Scaup and finally at Gartmain a Sparrowhawk. Also seen yesterday a Green winged teal from the hides at Gruinart. Today Micheal had - 59 Hoodies (the crow sort) at Rockside, 3 Hen Harriers, 54 Pintail and 280 Golden Plover at Gruinart. He then moved on to Ardnave- 15 Snow Buntings, 55 Twite, 29 Ringed Plovers and 14 Rock Pipits and on Loch Indaal 36 Red Throated Diver, 17 Great Northern Diver, 23 Slavonian Grebes, 80 Common Scoter, 13 Long Tailed ducks, 81 Red Breasted Mergansers and 34 Pale Bellied Brents. Amy on the Reserve at Gruinart also found 1 Redpoll and 40 Fieldfares.

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.

Saturday 26th October

If the truth be told, this should be the entry for Sunday, but then again the clocks go back shortly, so you could argue the point that it was a Saturday entry (00.41 on the clock just now!) Yesterday, the Horwich Birders had seen a Common Tern, 1 Black throated Diver, Slavonian Grebe and 13 Pale bellied Brent Geese on Loch Indaal from Glenburn, just past Blackrock. Today, one of the RAFOS team who have just arrived had seen a Long Tailed Duck on Loch Indaal, off Bowmore, a good start to the week. The Horwich Birders, or rather Chris and Tony Johnson headed home today as did the Collinsons to Newtonhill just South of Aberdeen, thanks folks for your birds, and hopefully we will have other sets of "new " eyes this week on the look out for some birds for us!.

Tuesday 30th April

The Iceland Gull posing for the camera today up at Bunnahabhain, taken by the Argyll birder. Today on Loch Indaal, he had 186 Common Scoter, 12 Long tailed Duck, 6 Scaup, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 11 GND, 41 Pale bellied Brent and 2 Goldeneye. At Ballinaby, there were only 172 Golden Plover and at Gruinart only around 500 Blackwits were present, the others could possibly have moved on. At Nerabus, 14 Whimbrel were counted, and at the top of Loch Indaal, 64 Barwits were seen. James was saying that the bulk of the Barnies had headed off today. Paul and Sue from Wales who were with us at the Bird nerds this evening have been visitors to Islay for the past 3 years and this is the first time they have seen the Barnies in April. Another visitor tonight was Chris who had 3 lifers today, a Corncrake seen at Portnahaven, a Purple Sandpiper at Bruichladdich and also the 3 Lapland Buntings at Rockside. David Formby, our local dentist heard a Cuckoo over at Craighouse on Jura today. Peter had some facts back on the Pale bellied Brent Geese that he had seen the other day, basicaly they had been all caught and rung in Ireland, in the Dublin and Strangfrord Lough areas, 2 of them had only been rung recently in March of this year! 

Wednesday 17th April

Another day in for walkislay. We should have gone to Colonsay but the ferry was on "amber alert" which means that the ferry might go in to Colonsay but not pick us up on the return leg from Oban, so rather than risking 35 folk getting marooned on Colonsay, we had a circular walk out through the woods at Ballygrant. Boy, it was windy and wet too but job done, Forgot to mention that Anna had a Long tailed Duck yesterday on Loch Indaal. Nat sent through some sightings from Gruinart today, but will include them tomorrow once I have decoded her shorthand, plenty time tomorrow!

Sunday 24th February

Another great day although Mike's weather station recorded 3 degrees of frost at 5 am today...Phil and Cath had a juv White tailed Sea Eagle over towards Kilchoman with a Golden Eagle seen shortly afterwards.On Loch Indaal, just in front of Loch Gorm House there were 12 Pale bellied Brent, further along at the mini market in Bruichladdich 2 Purple Sandpipers and a Red throated Diver were spotted. Just before coming into Port Charlotte a ringtail Hen Harrier flew across the road ahead of them. This afternoon, Peter had a great time looking out over Loch Indaal from the pier at Bruichladdich. His sightings were as follows, 17 GND, 1 Black throated Diver, 48 Red throated Diver, 5 Slavonian Grebe, 85 Eiders, displayng and "cooing" away, 26 RB Merganser, 3 Long tailed Duck, 67 Common Scoter, 6 Scaup, 2 Mallard, 3 Wigeon, 16 Pale belled Brent, 2 Mute Swan, 2 Whooper Swan, 1 Black Guillemot in breeding plumage and 2 Razorbill. All that I could muster was a Buzzard sitting on the garden wall, a Wren in the wood with a Collared Dove out on the grass in front of the house.

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!!!!

Tuesday 5th February

Another windy day out here with the odd squally shower thrown in for good measure, the temperature along with the wind chill have changed to, with the wind veering round and coming from the North, brass monkey weather to come! Yesterday, the Lochwinnoch birders reported in to say that over at Gruinart from the hide they had seen a male Hen Harrier, on the floods, Pintail and Teal. Along the flats they had seen a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp both on Sunday and again yesterday, possibly the same goose. Also seen on the reserve were some Twite. Down on Loch Indaal they had seen 9 Long tailed Ducks close to Bowmore. They also had seen 2 Herring Gulls with coloured rings on, one had a black ring on and the other had a yellow ring on, wonder if that was one of Euan's birds from last July? Today as we went down the road, there was a Lapwing flock down close to the Rockside roadend, it split in two all of a sudden and then we saw what was happening as a Peregrine nobbled one of the Lapwings!  Later on up behind Ballygrant on the Glen road, we saw a pair of Golden Eagle. Finally at home there were 5 Buzzzards out on the wing, late afternoon.

Sunday 12th January

Yesterday Tom and Jo had been out and about, their highlight for the day was possibly seeing 5 Long tailed Ducks on Loch Indaal, 3 from Bowmore and other 2 at Blackrock. Along at Bruichladdich they saw 2 Purple Sandpipers, 9 Turnstone and 10 Ringed Plover.  At Neriby, they had a count of 2,700 Barnies, 90 Whitefronts, 1 Pink footed Goose and a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp. While at Bowmore they also had 14 Pale bellied Brent Geese, 16 Goldeneye, 8 GND and 11 Slavonian Grebes along at  Blackrock they counted 24 Pale bellied Brent Geese, 38 Common Scoter, 14 Red throated Diver and a Guillemot. James last night had a Barn Owl at Grainel. Earlier on he had a further 2 Barn Owls and a Tawny Owl at Erasaid and today had 4 Hen Harriers on the RSPB reserve at Gruinart, 2 males and 2 ringtails. We saw a Stonechat the "Eastern side" of Loch Gorm, just after dropping down "The Hedges" and another along the Southern side" of Loch Gorm, close to the memorial is to the Kilchoman Bards

Monday 31st December or "Auld years' night"

What a difference a day makes, the weather remained dry for most of the time and here we go for a bumper final entry for 2012. Yesterday, James had a Golden Eagle from his kitchen window at Grainel, and in one of the fields along from his house, he had a Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp. There were 14 Red legged Partridges at his road end the other day too.  The Barn Owl was present in his shed last night, becoming quite a regular! Paul Graham yesterday thought he saw the elusive Red breasted Goose over at Eorrabus in the fields opposite Esknish Farm. Paul also had a couple of Barn Owls out hunting, one at the Ballymartin roadend and the other along at Red Lodge the other night. This morning, from the new hide at Gruinart, Bob had a count of 670 Golden Plover and 800 Lapwing. At the top of Loch Indaal, he had 150 Wigeon and a count of 54 Pale bellied Brent Geese. This afternoon up at Loch Gearach, Bob had 2 Whoopers, 220 Teal, 167 Wigeon, 12 Mallard, 1 Kestrel and on his journey there and back he also had 6 Buzzard, 1 Fieldfare, 2 Stonechat and 14 Pheasants! Carl today had a small flock of Redwing up towards Cultoon. Pete Clement who is over staying with Peter and Pia had a Golden Eagle at Kilchiaran, on Loch Indaal between Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich, a count of 9 GND and further round Loch Indaal, off Uiskentuie, Pete had a Long tailed Duck. 

At this point, I would like to thank all the folk that have sent in their sightings throughout the year, it just great to get an email through or a message left on the phone, makes it all worth while. I think the highlight for me was at the Bird Fair when the Islay stand won the 3rd in the "Tourism sector". I thought it was a wind up, not often that I am stuck for words. Better still we were all like Cheshire cats! And yes, Islay will be returning again to Rutland for their 25th Bird Fair in August. All the best for 2013 to you all, and hopefully see some of you around Islay or at Rutland for some of our hospitality!!!! 

Monday 24th December

Yet again, I have been proved wrong as the green colour over Islay must have meant to show the green colour of our grass not heavy rainfall, as today turned out to be a good day, although there had been a little rain through the night, but not a lot! Mary, on her way to ferry out of Port Askaig on Saturday morning had seen a Stoat in its' ermine coat at Ballygrant, it had just caught a mouse! Tom and Jo yesterday had 2 Golden Eagles over towards Mulindry, at  Loch Gorm they had a count of 127 Whitefronts, down at Machir Bay they had 2 Sanderling and a flock of 11 Twite, and going home at Blackrock they saw 4 Pale bellied Brent Geese. While down at Machir Bay, Bob had seen a Peregrine and also a count of 180 Lapwing, back at home he had a large female Sparrowhawk. Looking out from Bowmore today, over Loch Indall, Peter and Pia had 5 Long tailed Duck, 4 Slavonian Grebes as well as Common Scoter, Red breasted Merganser, Eider and Goldeneye. This morning from the old hide at Gruinart, James counted 48 Pintail, 12 Shoveler and 2 Gadwall, while along beside the new hide he saw a juv. White tailed Sea Eagle. 

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas, no doubt some of our followers could already be on Xmas day already!

Friday 7th December

James had carried out a count on the reserve at Gruinart on Wednesday, the highlights being 9,910 Barnies, 423 Whitefronts, 41 Greylags, 1 Hen Harrier, 53 Pintail and 426 Golden Plover. Also on Wednesday, down on Loch Indaal, James had 24 Common Scoter, 2 Great Northern Diver, 3 Red throated Diver, 3 Slavonian Grebe and 2 Long tailed Duck. Here at home, the other day with the cold weather around, the bird tables had been busy, at one time I counted 40 birds there, mainly Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Robin, Blackbird, Starling, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, House Sparrow, Dunnock and the odd Pheasant on the ground hoovering up the spilled foods. Nothing out of the normal but what a sight! Last time it was like that was around the same time in December a few years back and that was again 40+ on the feeders at Asa Wright in Trinidad, it was cold here in the UK then, but not in Trinidad!

Saturday 24th November

A good day on Islay, plenty of sun and good light as well as a fantastic sun set. Paul Beresford was out and about around the Island and got some good records. First on Loch Indaal - 42 pale bellied brent geese, 107 scaup, 13 long tailed ducks, 17 Slavonian grebes and 5 common scoter. Then at Gartbreck, 1 hen harrier and 11 twite. A hen harrier over Loch Gorm and finishing with the red breasted goose outside the new hide at RSPB Loch Gruinart and a waxwing on the woodland trail.

Wednesday 14th November

Another day of goose counting for me. As part of the International count (I was counting the Gruinart area again). It was a better day, cloudy but clear and calm. We had a total of 18,989 barnacle geese, 818 white fronted geese (all in the Gruinart area), 2 lesser Canada geese hutchinsii on the reserve and best of all, I finally got to see the red breasted goose at Ardnave.
The birds of prey were evident all day, drying their wings from the over night rain. A young white tailed eagle over Corsapol, a merlin further along the road, a hen harrier at the RSPB hide, a kestrel and peregrine at Ardnave and a golden eagle at Killinallen.
Another report from Ken and friends : Yesterday they had - 3 red throated divers, 42 common scoter, 13 long tailed duck and 7 Slavonian grebes on Loch Indaal. A big count of 117 curlew at Port Charlotte, 1 golden eagle, 21 fieldfares and 7 redwing at Finnlaggen. The Iceland gull was at Bunnahabhain again. On the Gruinart Flats 85 meadow pipits and 1 sparrowhawk and finally an otter and 5 purple sandpipers at Bruichladdich.

Saturday 3rd November

A miserable sort of a day out here today, with squally showers coming out of nowhere and also the temperature not that great either, it's that time of year I should remember....On to more positive thoughts! Yesterday, the Red breasted Goose was seen up towards Ardnave, proving quite a bit of a challenge to be seen! The Waxwings were still present at Port Askaig . David and Jenny round at Coille had the large "finch flock" consisting of mainly Chaffinch with some Twite and a Linnet too, but the 2 Bramblings were seen there too! Further on they saw 2 Golden Eagles up towards Sanaigmore. At Ballinaby, a flock of 30 Golden Plover were present. Over at Gruinart, they had both a male and a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Peregrine, 2 Greenshank and 6 Gadwall.  Michal had Snow Bunting on the track at Saligo.  George had an Otter down at Bruichladdich. Today at Machir Bay, David and Jenny birds included 2 Gannets, a Long tailed Duck, an immature Kittiwake, an imm. Glaucous Gull and a ringtail Hen Harrier. Pia had 6 Waxwings in her garden in Bruichladdich, offshore on Loch Indaal a flock of over 60 Common Scoter were present, and an Otter was seen eating a large crab, not bad going from the house!!

Tuesday 23rd October

Some sightings through from the Bolton Birders. On Sunday, at Bunahabhain they had a female Otter out in the Sound of Islay along with 2 young. Whilst up there, they also had a pr of Golden Eagles along with a juv Eagle. Coming back down the road they saw a Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and a Buzzard. A male Stonechat was seen on the wires too. On Loch Allan, a Little Grebe was present, while 30 Redwing were busy on the Rowan berries close to Loch Allan. Yesterday they had seen 2 Slavonian Grebe along with the Red breasted Merganser off Blackrock on Loch Indaal. As well as numerous Seals over at "Seal Bay" past Ardbeg, a dog Otter was seen. Ardtalla, a Kestrel was seen,  a small flock of 12 Twite were there too and in the bushes close by were 8 Long tailed Tits. There was also a Red throated Diver along at Claggain Bay. Today up at Ardnave they had a flock of 70 Twite , 3 GND off Nave Island, 24 Chough, 8 Golden Plover, and 8 Turnstone. Ardnave Loch held the Mute Swan family and today, 4 adult Whooper with 1 cygnet, again the Mutes and Whoopers clashing!!! There was also a Little Grebe and 20 Tufted Duck present. The pond at the back of Machir Bay had 11 Whooper, 80 Wigeon and 8 Curlew late afternoon. The Leigh Birders had headed over to Jura yesterday, they had a Collared Dove just before Ballygrant. Jura started off well with a Kestrel, Buzzard, the odd Stonechat and a Robin. Further on they had a Sparrowhawk and then out over the open moorland they had 2 Buzzard, pr of Hen Harriers and then a Merlin shot across the road and away. Further on another pr of Hen Harriers and a further male. Finally a flock of around 160 Fieldfare flying high, obviously on migration, and all that before Craighouse! Out in the Small Isles Bay there was 4 Mute Swans and 10 Mallard. Along at Jura Forest, a Goldcrest was heard. Further on Golden Eagles and White tailed Sea Eagles were seen. They were surprised to see a female Sparrowhawk hunting up a burn and away out on to the moor. A Buzzard dived into the trees in one of the plantations, spooking a Sparrowhawk which in turn set some Redwings off... On their return leg another Eagle, probably on of the earlier birds seen, a Wren just outside of Craighouse and finally 2 different Kestrel were seen coming back towards the ferry. Back on Islay they saw a Sparrowhawk close to Avonvoggie. A great day by all accounts! Danny and the team yesterday had a male Sparrowhawk on the flats at Gruinart. Today they had 3 Kestrel while down on the Oa. They counted 5 Canada Geese, Richardson's amongst the geese at the top of Loch Indaal. 12 Wigeon were also seen there too. Further round Loch Indaal, 14 Pale bellied Brent were spotted. Today the Rochdale birders had a female Whinchat down close to the former Machrie Hotel, a Brambling up towards Skerrols, Ballinaby held a mixed flock of 180 Finches including 100 Twite, and over at Ardtalla there was a mixed flock of 100 Winter Thrushes, Redwing and Fieldfare. Chris and Lynne who are up from Bedfordshire for the week , it was Chris who initially pointed the Red breasted Goose to me, sent some sightings through.  In the Mulindry/ Cluanach area today they had Yellowhammer, Blue Tit , Chaffinches, Redwing and some Whitefronts. Over on Jura, a mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare. Later on they had 6 Red breasted Merganser and coming back, while waiting at Feolin for the ferry, a GND . Finally close to Blackrock they had 50 Scaup and 2 Long tailed Ducks