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!!!

Sunday 14th April

The rain has kept away, although there has been the odd spot off and on, nothing much really. The wind has caused the ferries to divert to Port Askaig all day, so at least we have not been disrupted that much. Yesterday, Bob had carried out the count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck, with the scores on the doors being as follows, 2 GND, 7 juv Shag, 15 Greylag, 10 Greenland Whitefront, 8 Mute, 12 Shelduck, 20 male Mallards, 18 Teal (all pairs), 54 Eider (mainly males in breeding plumage), 14 Red breasted Merganser, 58 Oystercatcher (mainly paired up), 12 Curlew, 63 Barwits, 1 Dunlin, 15 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 4 Turnstone, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 37 Ringed Plover (mainly paired up), 1 Grey Plover, 2 GBB Gull, 3 LBB Gull, 20 Herring Gull, 32 Common Gull, 6pr Black headed Gull and 1 Sandwich Tern. On his way down to the shore, Bob had a Sedge Warbler as well. Also yesterday, Jack Fleming had a Swallow at Gruinart. Today, Peter had a Little Tern fly past his house down at Bruichladdich. Also today was the first day of walkislay for this year, with over 50 folk on the walk from Bunnahabhain. After seeing them on their way, on our way home we had an Osprey with a fish in its talons just as we came away, earlier on we had seen  2 Golden Eagles out on the wing further up from Bunnahabhain itself. Before we came to Ardnahoe, a male Hen Harrier flew low across the road in front of us. On Ardnahoe Loch, a Heron was seen  and also a male Goldeneye. Further down the road after Keills, there was a small group of 15 Fieldfare in the fields there.

Monday 21st October

The Rochdale birders yesterday had been a walk round Ardnave Point where they saw a Swallow, Wheatear,  Whinchat,  6 Sanderling,  2 Purple Sandpiper, 10 Twite and mixed flocks of Rock and Meadow Pipits. Back at Rock Mountain they saw a Merlin. Mike and Elspeth from Edinburgh had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier on their way up to Killinallan, also 4 Reed Buntings there too with another ringtail at Gortontoid. They had seen a total of 6 Buzzards, including a juv. bird with a huge rabbit up in the dunes!At the mouth of Loch Gruinart, they saw a Lesser Black backed Gull. The Leigh birders had seen 2 Goldeneye (male and female), 1 ad GND and 2 juv GND, Turnstones, R. b. Mergansers, Eiders, Barnies and Cormorants from the harbour at Bowmore. Amongst the Barnies as they came out of Bowmore, they had a lesser Canada Goose. Below Rockside they had a Merlin, over at Gruinart  a juv Golden Eagle. Up at Ardnave Loch, a pr of Mute Swans with 4 young as well as a pr of Whoopers with 1 cygnet, the male Mute was harassing the male Whooper trying to get it to leave. Also on the loch were 14 Tufted Duck and a Little Grebe. Over the dunes 60 Chough were seen. Heading back round Loch Gorm was a small flock of 18 Lapwing and just before that a count of around 200 Golden Plover. Coming home last night we saw 3 Barn Owls, one close to Sunderland, another further along the road and the final one was seen between Rockside and the Coastguard's. Today Bob had seen 2 Golden Eagle up behind Port Charlotte. Andrew Harrop who saw the Red breasted Goose yesterday had seen it again this morning along at Sunderland, and down on Machir Bay, he had a first winter Mediterrean Gull and round at Toranore beside Ballinaby 11 Lapland Buntings and a Greenland Redpoll were seen. Danny and the team had seen 34 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Blackrock today, and as they came back to the ferry at Feolin on Jura, they had an Otter. Mike and Elspeth had 80 Scaup at Blackrock this morning as well as 5 Slavonian Grebes.  On the Oa they had a Peregrine and also 20 Fieldfare. They counted a further 12 at Cluanach and also commented on the numbers of Stonechats that they have seen so far. On the reserve at Gruinart James had a count of 19,000 Barnies, 516 Whitefronts, 44 Greylags, 7 Pale bellied Brent, 1 Canada hutchinsii sp., 1 Golden Eagle 2nd  yr., 1 ad and 1 juv Peregrine, 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk and 52 Whooper Swans.

Wednesday 17th October

The blog is running late, better late than never, so here goes, another bumper edition mainly thanks to visiting birders! The Leigh birders yesterday had another busy day, 1 adult and 1 juv Great Northern Diver plus several Red throated Divers on Loch Indaal, seen from the power station at Bowmore, a Wren in a garden at the edge of Bowmore. They also had a Wood Pigeon and a Sparrowhawk mobbed by Hooded Crows just after Coille, the Brambling was seen again along with the flock of around 200 Chaffinch at Coille. Further on up on the far coast was a White tailed Sea Eagle, while down at Sanaigmore itself  4 Chough were present along with some Linnets and Pied Wagtails, in Sanaigmore Bay itself there were 13 Ringed Plover. On Loch Gruinart, they had 2 Greenshank and 2 Shelduck, flying South of Loch Gruinart, they counted 18 Pink footed Geese. At the Visitor Centre at Gruinart, 4 Coal Tit and 16 Red legs, some of the group that were mentioned last night possibly. Ardnave Loch held 4 eclipse Goldeneye, 5 Tufted Duck, 6 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe and 2 Chough were nearby. Close to Kilnave, there were 5 Stonechats, 2 male Reed Buntings and 6 juv Linnet. A White tailed sea Eagle was seen being mobbed by a Buzzard over towards the Sound of Islay. The Stewartry SOC members had a Sparrowhawk at Imeraval, 2 Peregrines on the Oa, a distant Golden Eagle present there too. Over at Claggain Bay, a ringtail Hen Harrier flew past. Out on the bay, they had 3 Red throated Diver and a Great Northern Diver. Back in the Bay at Port Ellen 15 Ringed Plover were noted and late afternoon, just North of Port Ellen, a single Swalllow was added to their list. Overall yesterday,  they reckon they had a total of 15 Buzzards on their travels. Bob this morning had a Merlin and 2 Goldeneye at Frenchman's Rocks. Andrew today had been in at Loch Skerrols. His birds included 40 Mute Swan along with Wigeon, Tufted Duck and Dabchick. In the surrounding trees, he had 16 Long tailed Tit, Treecreeper, Bullfinch, 20 Redwing, Wood Pigeon, Mistle Thrush, Siskin and Blackbirds. The Blackbirds, Redwing, Bullfinch were all feeding on the Rowan berries. On his  way home he had a Barn Owl, close to Octomore. Today the Leigh birders had an easier day at home as the weather closed in, but still managed a ringtail Hen harrier, 5 Buzzards, 1 male Stonechat and also several Hooded Crows. Got some info back from James about the Whitefronts, but it can wait until tomorrow's entry, so watch this space...

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.