Thursday 6th March

Thanks to James who has compiled the entries to the blog while I was away over on the mainland. Some sightings through from last week. Somehow I managed to omit Paul's birds from last Wednesday, he had walked from Ballygrant through to Port Askaig. In the trees around Loch Ballygrant, he had a Treecreeper and several Goldcrest. Further on Paul had a Great spotted Woodpecker and on the Lily Loch a Dabchick was present. Later on over at Craigens, there was a small flock of 10 Twite and on the reserve at Gruinart, 7 adult Whooper Swans 2 ringtail Hen Harrier and around 300 Golden Plover. Yesterday, Ken and the Burbage birders had seen the Canada Goose hutchinsii down beside Loch Indaal. Beside the Gaelic College, 147 Barwits and 1 Knot were seen. Smelly corner held 40 Shelduck, with 19 Black Guillemots counted in the Sound of Islay at Coal Ila. A Dipper was seen at the Woolen Mill and finally up behind Port Charlotte a flock of 137 Barnies along with a solitary Pinkie!

Wednesday 18th December

Bob was out helping with the International Goose count today and had seen 2 White tailed Sea Eagles out over the hills between Newton and Ballygrant, earlier on at Carrabus Bob saw a Pink footed Goose amongst some Whitefronts. This morning on my way over to Gruinart, I had a first, briefly, a male Hen Harrier was sitting on top of a fence post before it flew off! At Grainel there were 12 Reed Buntings and along the road past Loch Gorm House, a Merlin flew across in front of us. Up towards Killinallan, a Snipe was flushed out of the roadside ditch. The wind (yet again) has started to pick up.

Saturday 27th April

Spot the deliberate mistake last  night then? Well the TV program is being screened next Monday, not this coming Monday, even had a letter through from John Aitchison telling us about it, in the post, better mind and watch it! The bird nerds is on Tuesday coming, right enough, at 7pm at the "old hide" at Gruinart.... Back to birds then... Anna on Tuesday had 3 Gannets fishing off the Port Charlotte lighthouse, on Wednesday over on Jura along with her mother, they had a seen 4 different Golden Eagles. Later on, back on Islay, down below Nerabus they had counted 30 Whimbrel and also on the Rhinns they had seen 2 White tailed Sea Eagles. Yesterday, James had counted 970 Barnies on the reserve at Gruinart. The Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp was seen as was a Pink footed Goose. On the floods, 54 Blackwits were present, 5 House Martins flew past and a Cuckoo was heard along the flats. Today James had 2 Otters along the flats, a Cuckoo was heard and Merlin was present. The Rochdale birders headed home today, but had seen 2 Treecreepers in the woods at Bridgend before they left. Many thanks to Gordon and Pauline for their sightings while they were here. This morning, Mary had 2 Corncrakes calling at Portnahaven, in competition with a cement mixer! I know that they often compete against the strimmer going and also the "farm bike" as well, but a cement mixer is a new one to me! Michal had a male Hen Harrier on reserve and also a Buzzard. Also today, Bob had Sparrowhawk fly past his house as well as a RTD later on. Up over the moor behind his house, he heard 3 Cuckoos and saw a male Hen Harrier and then later on a  ringtail. Here at home, while  we were doing some  work outside, the ever inquisitive Choughs had to do a fly past just checking out what we were doing...The 4 Siskins are still here on the feeders and the male Redpoll was present this morning too.  

Monday 15th April

Just after I wrote last night's entry, Karen from over in the cottages had a Peregrine annoying 4 Buzzards good style, it initially split the Buzzards into 2 groups of 2, one of which flew off... A moment or so later, Karen then had a Swallow fly past. This morning, Becky had a GND on Loch Indaal, directly in front of her house on the edge of Bowmore. On the walk down from Port Ellen today, Karen had a Gannet close to the shore at the Singing Sands, and then later on a Swallow at the Port Ellen maltings. Bob, this morning had seen a lot of Redwings on the move with 20 beside his house and then 150 between Knockdon and Loch Skerrols. On Loch Skerrols itself, a male Pochard was seen as were 7 Tufted Duck. Along at "smelly corner" there were 60 Shelduck, 12 Wigeon, pr of Shoveler, and a female Pintail. Back home, Bob had a Golden Eagle over his house, early afternoon, then a male Hen Harrier.There was a flock of 65 Redwing present there this afternoon which were spoofed by a female Kestrel, closely followed by a male Kestrel. Down on the Oa, Dave has had a good day, with 4 Willow Warbler, 12 Swallow, 3 House Martin, 3 Sand Martin, 11 Goldcrest, a Siskin and a singing Redwing, Back on Friday Dave had a Chiffchaff. David and Jill Mason had seen a Pink footed Goose amongst the Greenland Whitefronted Geese over at Ballinaby today and also had a Wheatear singing further on. This evening there was an Arctic Tern down at Bruichladdich. James was saying this evening that most of the Barnies have flown on, although he reckons that there were still around 5,000 present at Gruinart today. This evening the rain has started, so tomorrow's walk for Walkislay may have to be plan "B" with a low level walk taking place...

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!!!!

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

Tuesday 8th January

A day with no rain, another first for 2013, better not get carried away...There was a reported sighting of a White tailed Sea Eagle down towards Loch Gorm today. On the reserve at Gruinart, James saw a Pink footed Goose and later on a Canada Goose hutchinsii  sp. There was a ringtail Hen Harrier quartering over the pools down at Carnain just before lunchtime. This afternoon a low flying RAF jet screamed past, hope that the goose counters, if they were out, had finished their various routes! I actually thought that the RAF had been requested not to fly sorties when the geese were here in case of a bird strike...

Tuesday 1st January

A quiet time here last night, well behaved folk out living on the sticks....Pete Clement had gone over to Bunnahabhain this morning and had seen the adult Iceland Gull, if it is the same bird, it's been a regular there for a good number of years now. Out on the Sound of Islay, Pete had 4 GND, a Black throated Diver and a Black Guillemot in winter plumage. Inland, he had a male Hen Harrier out quartering its patch of ground. Down at Nerabus, Pete had a Pink footed Goose amongst the Barnies present. Back here at home in amongst the birds at the feeders, the other day was a Chaffinch with a BTO ring on its' leg, wonder if it was one of the birds that Euan caught and rung back in July?

Sunday 21st October

An early entry for a change.... The big bit of news is that this morning there was a Red breasted Goose down at Sunderland Farm along with the Barnacle Geese there too. Fortunately a visiting birder showed me where the said goose was amongst the others, easy really when it's like that. I went down early afternoon, but there were not so many many Barnies around nor was the Red breasted Goose either, the Whooper Swans had moved off too, some down on Loch Gorm. On Friday, Andy Greenwood had at least 25 Slavonian Grebe on Loch Indaal, from Blackrock. Yesterday on his way back on the ferry, he had a Bonxie, 2 Arctic Skuas, 2 Kestrel, 1 Black throated Diver and also 10 Fieldfare. David Hardacre from Seahouses, another visitor who went home yesterday had seen 83 species during his trip and was well pleased with his first visit to Islay. Another first timer, Gavin left yesterday too, equally impressed, "seeing Eagles" from the kitchen window, just great!!! On Friday, over at Claggain Bay, he had 8 GND and a Razorbill and yesterday morning down at Machir bay, he counted 39 Golden Plover, 26 Ringed Plover, a Sanderling, a Merlin and also a Snow Bunting. Off the ferry going out in the afternoon, he had the pod of  Bottle nosed Dolphin  round about the MacArthur's head  area. Off Gigha, 5 GND and a RTD were seen as well as an Otter. Many thanks to the above for their sightings through the week. Yesterday the Leigh Birders started their day off with a Stoat running past the patio doors where they are staying on the Oa, every morning they have 3 Hooded Crows coming in to be fed. On the road up to Bowmore, on the "Low road" they had 7 Long tailed Tits, briefly sitting on the bridge before flying off! From the power station, on Loch Indaal, numerous Barnacle geese, 11 Pale bellied Brent Geese, a handful of Barwits, Mergansers, Starlings, House Sparrows, Eider, Dunnock, Goldfinch, 6 Turnstone, 3 Wigeon, Curlew, Common Gulls, Herring Gulls and Black headed Gulls. Gruinart also had 2 Greater black backed gulls, a female Peregrine sitting on the sandbars looking replete and resting up!!!Also seen were 4 Turnstone and a good number of Barwits, up the Ardnave side of Gruinart there was a Wren and also Stonechats seen. Going round Loch Gorm, a male Hen Harrier put a Snipe up, and several Buzzards were seen as well as more Stonechats. Down at Sunderland they had the Whooper Swans and also the Barnacle Geese, Greylags some Whitefronts and a few Mallard. Danny counted 99 Whoopers late afternoon at Sunderland, and had a Pink footed Goose amongst the other geese present