Sunday 23rd February

Forgot to mention last night that we had seen the adult Iceland gull over at Duich in a rather badly poached grass field. Bob was telling me today that some Greenfinches have returned to his feeders, 5 male and a female were there today. Ed had seen a Snow Bunting and also a Merlin. Later on, South of Bowmore, Ed saw 2 Peregrines. Around midday, Malcolm had an imm White tailed Sea Eagle up behind Bridgend and then later on an adult bird over towards Port Askaig. Returning visiting birder Paul from Notts had seen an imm White tailed Sea Eagle at the reserve at Gruinart this morning, also there were over 100 Pintail, 1 Whoopers, and over 80 Dunlin. Up towards there were 30 Chough in a grass field along with the grazing sheep. Paul also commented on the numbers of Skylarks and Reed Buntings around. Over at Loch Ballygrant, he had a ringtail Hen Harrier with 24 Tufties on the Loch itself. Close to Bowmore, on Loch Indaal, Paul had 2 GND and also a Red throated Diver. Below the generating station there were 8 Scaup, 3 males and 5 females. Back here at home, a new garden bird on the ground today, a Raven, been seeing some of them carrying nesting materials back to their nests of late!! For those of you on Islay this coming week, the bird nerds are meeting in the Lochside Hotel at 7.30pm for a blether and a pint, soi if you are around, see you there!

Monday 3rd February

I was speaking this morning to a friend who lives up behind Bridgend who was telling me that their rain guage for January tallied out at 11.2" for last month, see the folk that live up in the hills....Some sightings now for you. The Lochwinnock birders had seen a Sparrowhawk hunting over the gorse bushes at Gartbreck on Saturday and a small flock of 12 Golden Plover down between the Airport and the shore (I forgot to put them on!)Yesterday they had a ringtail Hen Harrier out in front of the hides at Gruinart. They also had a Peregrine out from the old hide. Along at Leck Gruinart they saw 2 Buzzards. Over the reserve, there was a flock of over 700 Golden Plover along with some Dunlin were flying around being chased by another Hen Harrier! Out in front of the hides were 50 Redshank, 50 Shelduck, 6 Pintail, many Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon as well as some Lapwing. They also saw a Stonechat. Also seen were 3 Hares and 5 Roe Deer. Peter had taken a walk out to Ardnave Point, highlights included a Snow Bunting, 2 groups of Twite totalling 40 in all. Between Ardnave Point and Nave Island 6 GND were on the water, while up on the shore on Ardnave Island 70 Grey Seals were parked up. Ardnave Loch held 6 Whoopers a few Tufties, lots of Teal and also 2 Goldeneye. The adjoining fields held a flock of 75 Lapwing. On his way home, Peter had trip down to the old hide at Gruinart where he had 4 Whoopers, lots of Teal,8 Pintail, 16 Shoveler and a ringtail Hen Harrier.

Friday 10th January

Some sightings through from yesterday, Mary had a Snow Bunting up at Ardnave and 4 GND off Ardnave Point. Carol Andrews saw a family group of Whoopers at Bruichladdich, there was an adult and 2 youngsters. Peter reports that the Glaucous Gull is still at Bruichladdich and the Iceland Gull along at Uiskentuie. Between Bruichladdich and Uiskentuie, Peter had count of 56 Pale bellied Brents. Today George had seen the Whooper family up on his ponds, also there were a Snipe and also a Heron. George counted 17 Brents along at Bruichladdich and saw more round at Uiskentuie but could not get a count as he was driving at the time.

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.

Friday 8th November

Some birds through from the Naturetrek party who were over earlier this week, down on the Oa they had a male Hen Harrier, female Merlin, a flock of around 150 Twite, 25 Whopper Swans flying over the Oa, a Black Guillemot in winter plumage at Bowmore, with around 70 Scaup on Loch Indaal. Off Port Charlotte a 1st winter Arctic Tern was spotted, possibly the same bird that they saw the previous week.  On the Sound of Islay, at Port Askaig, 6 Common Scoter and a Long tailed Duck were added to their list. Yesterday, up at Ardnave, Malcolm had 20 Snow Buntings. Today, James had a Golden Eagle on the reserve at Gruinart. James also had a total count of 1600Golden Plover. Down in the stubble field beside the Coastgard cottages, Michael had a count of 22 Chough along with some Rooks, Jackdaws and Hooded Crows. Over at Gruinart, he had a Golden Eagle, possibly the same one that James saw, a male and female Hen Harrier, a Sparrowhawk spooking up around 80 Chaffinches at Craigens, along at Coullabus a large immature female Peregrine on a fence post! Over at Ballygrant Loch, 2 pr of Mute Swans, 5 Greylags, 4 Mallard, 1 Cormorant and a Heron. A walk through the woods there produced 120 Wood Pigeon, 2 Meadow Pipit, 12 Wren, 9 Robin, 19 Blackbird, 5 Song Thrush, 1 Redwing, 5 Dunnock, 1 Stonechat, 2 Goldcrest, and Treecreeper. Also seen were 5 Coal Tit, 7 Blue Tit, 8 Great Tit and 3 Chaffinches. Returning home Michael had a Golden Eagle at Erasaid on the edge of the reserve at Gruinart, the many Golden Plover, at Ballinaby a female Merlin and round Loch Gorm itself 2 ringtail Hen Harrier

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.

Saturday 2nd November

Yesterday, Gordon and Pauline Yates had a Sparrowhawk, a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Merlin, 40 Golden Plover, 1 Pale bellied Brent Goose along with the Barnies and also 5 Whooper Swans. At Bridgend, 200 Golden Plover and a WTSE were seen while up at Sanaigmore a Snow Bunting was present in the car park at "Outback Art". Gordon and Pauline, along with The RAFOS group headed back home this morning, so many thanks to you for sharing your sightings with us while you were over. Today, the weather has  not been very great, the rainfall since around 08.00 yesterday to around mid afternoon tallied through at least 1.5", boy was it was wet around midday today....Ed late afternnon ventured out and saw some Chough coming in to their roost behind Machir Bay

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.

Tuesday 22nd October

Martin saw the Red backed Shrike up at Gruinart today. Some sightings from yesterday now. The Horwich birders had at least 12 Slavonian Grebes along with flocks of Eider and Scaup on the top end of Loch Indaal. They also saw a male Goldeneye, 7 Pale bellied Brent and 3 Turnstone  there as well. Further on, down past Ardbeg they had seen an adult White tailed Sea Eagle and a male Yellowhammer close to Kildalton. There was an Otter seen in Ardlistillery Bay. Danny had been over that way as well and had a couple of flocks of Fieldfares, each with around 200 birds in each one. Along close to Sunderland Farm there were 8 Whoopers. Young Peter's father, Martin had heard a Siberian Chiffchaff  in the wood, Peter had a count of 21 Chough out over the dunes behind Machir Bay and 7 Linnets and some Twite. Later on, a walk at Ardnave had a Bonxie being seen, 5 Cormorant, a Gannet and a couple of Eiders offshore. On the shore there was a large number of Barnies, 3 Snow Buntings were noted flying over the fields there too, with a further count of 46 Chough. Team Bancroft today had 60 Fieldfare down at Eater Ellister, and also had seen Mistle Thrushes, Song Thrushes, Redwing and Fieldfare all on the Rhinns. They also commented on hearing the Red Deer stags roaring away.

Before I forget, watch BBC1 tomorrow night at 9pm, the final episode of the "Great British Year" and it is covering Autumn, and I believe there is some footage from Islay....

Thursday 18th October

Rather a lot of rain through the night, but it turned a not bad day once it cleared up... Yesterday afternoon, the Horwich birders had seen the following, 1 GND at Saligo  along with Black Guillemot, Guillemot, Shag and Eiders. Above Traigh Fleigien Beag were 90 Golden Plover and in the dunes behind were 2 groups of Twite on the grass, one tallied at 36, the other 12. Other visitors had told them of seeing Snow Buntings further up the coast from Saligo as well. Peter had a Sparrowhawk on his garden at Bruichladdich today and Bob saw his first Woodcock of the Autumn along with a few Snipe just up behind his house at Port Charlotte. Andrew and Jane had 8 Sanderling and 41 Ringed Plover down on Machir Bay, at Loch Gorm they had a male Goldeneye, pr of Tufted Duck and 8 Reed Buntings. They saw a Merlin opposite Kilchoman Distillery, a ringtail Hen Harrier and a Kestrel at Ballinaby and then a Peregrine at Grainel road end. Finally on the former distillery pond at Port Charlotte 2 Moorhen were present. Coming back home this evening we had a Barn Owl on the flats at Gruinart and another just before Sunderland Farm. There was also a reported sighting of an American Golden Plover down on Machir Bay by a visitor, but no more details apart from that. 

Tuesday 15th October

Ann and Noel Hands from Warwickshire who had been staying over on Jura last week sent some of their sightings through... On their last day, on their way down to the ferry they had 3 different Owls within 2 miles of each other. It started off with a Barn Owl, then a Short eared Owl and finally a Tawny Owl on a fence post at the side of the road. They had been over on Islay one day and had been down at Gruinart and had seen the WTSE putting the geese about, "a re run of the clip seen on the Hebrides, Islands on the edge"...The geese were put up again by a Peregrine and by the Eagles another time. On their way back to Jura they had 3 different male Hen Harriers.  Natalie and Emily had carried out a count on Loch Gruinart yesterday with their tally being as follows, 1 Cormorant, 3 Shag, 11 Heron, 19 Shelduck, 132 Wigeon, 18 Teal, 46 Mallard, 51 RB Merganser, 28 Pintail, 16 Shoveler, 182 Oystercatcher, 1 Ringed Plover, 231 Golden Plover, 86 Sanderling, 228 Dunlin, 84 Barwits, 216 Curlew, 9 Redshank, 28 Turnstone, 7 Greenshank, 87 BH Gulls, 70 Common Gulls, 172 Herring Gulls and 7 GBB Gulls. Early this morning Andrew and Jane had seen a Barn Owl and Fieldfare down at Portnahaven. Later on they had a walk round Ardnave with over 30 Twite seen, 15 Chough, 2 male Snow Buntings, 6 Yellowhammers (inc 3 males). Also seen were Great Tit, Stonechat, Goldfinch, and a female Merlin. Finally down close to Gruinart Farm they saw a Sparrowhawk and close to Port Charlotte a Peregrine. Peter, this morning had a young Golden Eagle being mobbed by a pr of Buzzards and a Raven on the High road just behind Bowmore and this evening there were 8 Pale bellied Brent on the shore at Bowmore. George had a Tufted  Duck on his ponds, a new tick for the ponds, and he also saw a Buzzard following the Barnies today....Visitors from Lancashire had a great sighting of 2 WTSE flying in the Sound of Islay as they came in to Port Askaig this afternoon. Been a great day, look at all those sightings....

Thursday 10th January

An early entry for once...Before I forget, the stars in the sky the last couple of nights have been something else, perhaps it has been that way to coincide with the programs on the TV...But at present the sky is overcast, so stargazing may be put on the back burner for tonight! Yesterday Mary counted 18 Fieldares on the Woodland walk at Gruinart. She also had 2 Chough near to the end of the woodland trail. Back at the office at Bushmills (still on the RSPB reserve) she had a Sparrowhawk, and later on another one along at the farm steading, possibly the same bird, Mary thought.  There seem to be quite a few Sparrowhawks around just now. Today, Mary had a covey of 12 Red legged Partridge close to the office, with a Raven in the woodland trail. Up at Ardnave, at the lobster ponds, there were 2 Chough, 1 Peregrine, 1 Redshank, 2 Sanderling, 20 Ringed Plover, 10 Turnstone, 2 Shelduck, 33 Oystercatcher, and a Snow Bunting. At Ardnave Point itself, there was a single Skylark, 15 Lapwing and on the ground around 150 Starlings feeding on the old cowpats. Dave, down on the Oa, today had 11 Whoopers on Loch Kinnabus and also has been seeing a Hen Harrier being seen quite often of late.

Thursday 6th December

Yes, the band of rain certainly did come in from the West...a steady rain, not a downpour, but all the same we did get the best part of an inch of rain or thereabouts!  Forgot to put on last night's entry that Mary had seen a Barn Owl on her way into work yesterday down close to An Gleann and also a few Woodcock at various places along the road. Back last Friday, Dave had 2 late Chiffchaffs down on the reserve on the Oa. On Tuesday, Dave had a Jack Snipe, 2 Red Grouse and also a Woodcock. Yesterday, he had 2 Golden Eagle and a Snow Bunting, again all on the reserve.

Monday 5th November

This morning the weather was not too good, but after midday it turned a great day... Yesterday Michael, a visiting birder over for the week, had started off at Loch Gruinart with 2 Golden Eagle (1 imm.) , 160 Golden Plover, 25 Ringed Plover, 104 Sanderling, 140 Dunlin and 15 Turnstone. Up at Ardnave he had 3 GND and 5 Snow Buntings. Finally down at Bridgend he had a count of 520 Golden Plover. David and Jenny yesterday had a Merlin over at Gruinart and a Golden Eagle as well as a Peregrine at Loch Skerrols. Today, Michael had 21 Whoopers arriving at Gruinart, 1 Peregrine, on the estuary there rather than on the floods, 4 Gadwall, 41 Pintail and 34 Shoveller were present. On his way down to Loch Indaal, at Lyrabus and looking over to Foreland, a ringtail Hen Harrier and a Merlin were seen. On Loch Indaal itself, between Blackrock and round to Bruichladdich, 13 GND, 24 RTD, 1 Black throated Diver, 13 Slavonian Grebe, 114 Scaup (very close to the road giving good sightings), 1 Long tailed Duck and finally off Bruichladdich Pier, 29 Common Scoter were counted. Earlier this morning, George had a count of 21 at Brichladdich. Today David and Jenny had seen 150 Wigeon on Ardnave Loch with around 700 Barnies roosting up on the beach over on Nave Island. Down at Claggain Bay, they had around 80 Meadow Pipits with a fall of 22 Robins! They also had a couple of Yellowhammers along at the Kildalton Cross. A Sparrowhawk was seen on the high road  out of Port Ellen. Peter this morning had a Waxwing fly over Bruichladdich.. Bob today had 220 Whitefronts out on the barley stubble out in front of his house along with some Rock Doves. There was also a imm. Peregrine perched up for ages just watching, then it started to cause havoc with the doves!  High up 7 Whoopers were seen heading South. On Bolsay Moor, Bob had 3 Red Grouse along with a couple of Snipe. Here at home at lunchtime, over the big crag, I had a count of 10 Buzzards all wheeling around, I counted them 3 times and came with 10 each time! Later on closer to 5pm, as the light was starting to fail there were 4 Buzzards out and also a Golden Eagle. Robin from Settle, had done a count down on Loch Indaal at 9am, 17 Slav. Grebe, 8 GND, 6 RTD, 14 Knot and 60 Golden Plover. Bridgend Woods held a Woodcock, a flock of around 100 Chaffinch along with usual Tits and Treecreepers as well. On Loch Gruinart from the Killinallan side, 20 Pintail, 14 Shoveller, 1 male Gadwall, 2 Greenshank, 1 Grey Plover were seen. Out from Port Bhan on Loch Indaal, late afternoon, Robin had 3 flocks of Common Scoter, one with 20 females, and mostly males in the other 2 flocks, totalling 54 in all. Finally back up to Gruinart, but on the reserve this time, Robin had 97 Shelduck, 87 Golden Plover, 32 Whoopers and around 20 red legs.

Monday 15th October

Almost a touch of frost last night, but at least the rain kept away...Peter's sighting of the Firecrest turns out to be only  the second sighting on Islay, with the Yellow browed Warbler being a fifth. Visitors had seen a Brambling yesterday in the large finch flock that was close to the Visitor centre at Gruinart. On her way in to work this morning Mary had a female Peregrine on a fence post along the flats at Gruinart. Mary and the vols carried out a count on Loch Gruinart with the following birds, 3 Cormorants, 8 Heron, 20 Shelduck, 64 Wigeon, 25 Mallard, 1 Goldeneye, 30 Red breasted Merganser,18 Shoveler, 23 Ringed Plover, 43 Golden plover, 229 Lapwing, 160 Oystercatcher, 141 Bar tailed Godwit, 191 Curlew, 52 Redshank, 19 Turnstone, 1 Mute Swan, 110 Black headed Gull, 54 Common Gull, 55 Herring Gull, 7 Great Black backed Gull, 16 Whooper Swan. Ardnave Loch held 12 Tufted Duck, 1 Little Grebe, 5 Whooper Swan and 6 Mute Swan.They also had a juv White tailed Sea Eagle out over Kilinallan. The Leigh birders today had 18 Pale bellied Brent Geese on Loch Indaal and 6 Whoopers at Sunderland Farm. Bob this morning had a Pomarine Skua off Coull Point. He also had 2 Snow Buntings there too and also a juv Golden Eagle. Today Gavin had 3 Golden Eagles while on the Oa reserve, 6 Chough, 2 Ravens, 3 Stonechats, 1 Lesser Redpoll and a flock of around 30 Twite were also present there as well. At Ardbeg, Gavin had 4 Swallows, and along at Claggain Bay, 1 Red throated Diver, 4 Black guillemot with 4 Fieldfare on land. Here at home around midday a Golden Eagle came out over the crag being mobbed by 2 Buzzards.