Tuesday 25th May

"A not bad sort of a day", so we managed to cut the grass, what a difference it makes... 

Chris Brock had seen a GND and a couple of Tysties close by the boat off Port Ellen this morning...😉

Lauren Stewart had carried out her WeBS count on Loch Gruinart yesteday, with the tally coming through as follows...

Shelduck 11, Mallard 6, Eider 2, Oystercatcher 125, Ringed plover 529, Lapwing 2, Dunlin 922, Bar-tailed Godwit 49, Curlew 18, Redshank 4, Black headed gull 18, Common gull 63, Lesser black-backed gull 2, Herring gull 33, Canada Goose 3, Swallow 4, Whimbrel 8, Peregrine 1 & Greenshank 1

Monday 27th July

Yesterday, James saw an Osprey fishing at Loch Gruinart, mind you I forgot to ask if it had been successful or not.. He also had counted 65 Barwits as well as 24 Dunlin present there as well. Later on, over at Kilnaughton Bay he saw a Sandwich Tern and also 4 Whimbrel...

Friday 24th July

Yvonne McCrone who lives over close to Otterferry has been over on Islay for a few days , and Yvonne wrote to tell me that she had seen at least 12 Whimbrel on the newly cut field at Cornabus. Have there been any more sightings to confirm this? They were there yesterday and today. We also had one staying a while at Otterferry before I came over here. . by the sound of news coming through, I believe that there were Whimbrels that she had seen..

Gary had been out and about today as well, 
"Some sightings from today, 47 Bar tailed Godwits & 2 Black tailed Godwits amongst the curlew and oystercatchers. Male Hen Harrier quartering the moorland just outside Bowmore"

Monday 25th May

Gary emailed some sightings seen by himself today...


"Down at Carnain, 9 Whimbrel on the grass, 1 Moorhen in the ponds & a Water Rail flying across the pond from muddy area to thick vegetation."

Saturday 16th May

Dave Wood sent through a couple of sightings seen by himself down on the Oa

"8 Whimbrel and a Spotted Flycatcher on reserve today."

Sunday 26th April

A couple of birds from yesterday, through from Gary. "A Kestrel flew over woods beside his  house this afternoon. Male Hen Harrier across road at Gartmain and  away along the shore."

Petr emailed through with the following, later on last night...
"At least 3 corncrakes calling here at 8.30pm this evening between Bruichladdich and Conisby."

Bob gave me a shout on the phone this morning.. and he was telling me that he had seen  a Golden Eagle flying over his house a few days ago. Down at Octomore, Bob saw 3 first winter Med Gulls following the plough. On his way to Bowmore, he had counted 22 Whimbrel just past Blackrock.

Also interesting. In garden have a male blackbird often in. Yesterday twice noticed him with a worm which he dipped in bird bath before flying off. Why, to clean it or to wet it as its been so dry ? Cannot say I have noticed this behaviour before. Certainly the bird bath in use for drinking by all the birds and also for bathing. Or like the pigeons simply settle down in it like a cool bath and a dose off.
Karen Graham  from Bearsden had in touch with her question...

David Livingstone heard a GS woodpecker drumming away this morning in the woods at Ardenistle over at Laphroaig.

Lesley e mailed  through some great sightings through as well
"We almost had rain today, but not quite. Still there is a few hours to go. Biting wind again. Walk at Kilchiaran. I stopped to check a bird disappearing into a hedge when a large shadow passed over me. Golden eagle. As I opened the car door at Kilchiaran first 2 birds heard and seen Sand Martins.  Second Whimbrel of the week in the bay. Linnets in pairs and small flocks of Twite. One pair with nesting materials. One bird was colour ringed. L O/Y didn't see R.
A Common Sandpiper on the burn and my second Grasshopper warbler heard on way back. Close and clear view of Sandwich Tern and a GN Diver L Indaal before Bruichladdich.
Another great day."

Wednesday 22nd April

Mary Redman e mailed some sightings seen by herself and her Dad,  Donald...
"I saw my first tern of the year in the bay here yesterday, not sure of species but it was 'quite' big.

Also there is a flock of around 20 Whimbrel feeding near Claddach. 

The Starlings are very noisy just now- including a Corncrake impersonator! 

My Dad had a magpie on his roof on Kerrera yesterday! I hear there's been a few sightings I'm Argyll, but he did get a shock! 

Hope you're all well, the sunny weather continues!" 

Mandy has also set through some sightings as well....

"This morning, I heard a Cuckoo down beside the phone box at the end of Loch Gorm, my first for this year.

4 red polls just flew over whilst I'm sitting in the sun in my front garden, this afternoon. Green veined white just flew round the front garden.

The Starling has added to its repertoire again- this time an adult male human saying a 3 syllable phrase, couldn't work out what it said!!!!"

Peter sent more birds for the blog, just great!!!

• a single flock of 23 Eider near Bowmore on the fortnightly shopping visit
• a single Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper on the shore near Bruichladdich

Lots of Willow warblers, Wheatears and Sand Martin about – plus Sandwich Terns offshore.

 

Tuesday 15th October

Today, it has been dry although a bit on the cool side,the blood must have rushed to my head, yes I took a daft turn (again?) and cut the grass!!!

Ann Heads and Noel had yesterday seen 2 White tailed Eagles over at Loch Gruinart. Down off Frenchman's Rocks they had a Whimbrel . Today, they saw a late Wheatear up at Ardnave, over at Sanaigmore, 5 GND were spotted out in the bay. Along at Sanaigmore 50 Whoopers were present with the 2 Lesser Snow Geese seen there as well. Up here at home, we watched the Chough going into the roost. I really should take more atention and try to count them in, mind you they are not that easy to count, as they duck and dive, perhaps I will need to catch them in the frame on the camera!!!

Sunday 1st September

Might as well put you all out of your misery,.. Yes, August has turned out to be the wettest month so far for 2019, only a mere 6.25 inches in total, so it was just as well that I emptied out the gauge before the end of the  month, as I doubt that it would not have held it all...

Today, "JD" has been out and about... At Frenchman's Rocks, he had a Whimbrel and also a Great Skua. At Gruinart, he saw 8 juv. Ruff, 48 juv. Black tailed Godwit and a Greenshank, up at Ardnave, he counted 12 Greenland Wheatear and saw another 8 on his travels. Finally, on his way back to his cottage, he counted 18 Mistle Thrush at Gearach/ Gleann Mor.

Monday 6th May

Yesterday Distillery Dave had been down over at Claggain bay where he counted 13 Red breasted Merganser and he also saw Eiders and a few GND out on the water. As he returned into Port Ellen, Dave had seen some Stonechats and Wheatears. Round at the Singing sands, he had Common Sandpipers, Razorbills and also 5 Common Terns. Over at Blackrock, he had a "good number" of Dunlin along with a few Whimbrel. Finally just after 10 pm when out with her dogs, Ann Barr had heard the Corncrake calling up at Rockside

Friday 3rd May

I think that like a lot of other places that the temperature is not what we would expect for this time of year...just glad to have the fire on!!!

David Wood had counted a flock of 52 Whimbrel which were in a field beside the road leading to the council dump down towards Gartbreck, just out of Bowmore. Distillery Dave has been hearing the
Corncrake calling at Rockside again, trust it is not keeping you awake at night, Dave !!!!

Tuesday 7th August

This morning, at the early hour of 4.30, Mike had a seen a Whimbrel flying over Port Charlotte and also a Greenshank flew past shortly afterwards. He also saw a Common Sandpiper on the rocks at Port Charlotte.

This evening, I took the chance and managed to take some images of the lbj flock flying past, over the seed crop. I knew that there were not as many as other times, but on a closer look on the computer, I counted 60 birds. On the red feeder, of Niger seeds there were 5 Siskins and 2 Chaffinches while on the Red Millet feeder there was 14 House Sparrows on the actual feed station itself with a further 10 n the ground. On the wee "anti Starling" table another mix of a further 8 birds were counted, and that was not counting the main feeders at the house....

Sunday 5th August

Yesterday, James Butcher e mailed through to say that "waders numbers were on the up on Loch Gruinart". By the sounds of his correspondence, James had a bit of problem trying to count the waders because of the presence of a Peregrine which caused the waders to be on edge and a bit flighty... James count was as follows, over 800 Dunlin mainly adult birds with a few juveniles, 250 Ringed Plover, 200 Sanderling, 16 Barwits and also a juv. Ruff, the first Ruff he has seen so far this Autumn.

This morning, Distillery Dave had seen some Dunlin along with the Sanderling on Machir Bay, back up at Rockside he had seen 2 Blackwits. This morning, I counted 23 Whimbrel as they flew off the Machir and down towards the sea.

Monday 9th July

Yesterday afternoon, Peter took his friend Ian up to Ardnave. On the loch, they saw another single Whooper Swan, probably the same swan that Peter had seen there 10 days ago. Out towards Ardnave, they saw a single Whimbrel and also 4 pair of Chough with young, a total of 17 Chough in all. The Bearsden birders are back over, and during a short walk in Bridgend Woods yesterday afternoon, they saw 2 Great Tit and also 2 Wrens.

Today, the single Whooper Swan was in the same field where Peter had seen it yesterday down at Rockside. Also here at home, I saw the ringtail Hen Harrier out on the wing over the same patch of ground as yesterday, but this time it dropped down amongst the rushes before flying off with its' prey.

Monday 28th May

Yesterday afternoon, Distillery Dave had seen a Whimbrel when he was over at Gruinart.

Here at home nothing much to report, although there was a pair of Greenfinch feeding young. The Tree Sparrows appear to have moved on as we have not seen them for the best part of a week. The Linnets are not so numerous and the Goldfinch are down in the numbers coming to our feeders. A lot of our birds are late in arriving with others definitely late in breeding as well.

Remember that May catch up for the Islay bird nerds will be held at the South hide at Gruinart tomorrow, Tuesday at 7pm. so if you are over on Islay this week, do come along and meet  us...

Tuesday 1st May

Yesterday, Mike reported through some birds seen out on Loch Indaal from Port Charlotte,  in flat calm conditions, a count of 119 Common Scooter, which Mike thought this to be a high count for time of year. He also had a Glaucous Gull along with other gulls in a feeding frenzy. Mike also had 2 RTD and 10 GND and also a Common Sandpiper seen on the shore.
Today, the weather has not been that great, but it did not deter Argyll birder, Jim Dickson from spotting some birds for the blog, oh, to be young again... Jim had 39 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Uiskentuie, at Coull, 17 Whimbrel were seen. Over at Ballinaby, Jim saw 43 Golden Plover and a Grey Plover, with a count of 81 Linnet there too. Up at Ardnave, 32 Whimbrel, a Blackwit and 13 Canada Geese with some Greylags seen there as well. At Gruinart 4 pair of Wigeon were present.

Monday 23rd April

Yesterday visitors, Andrew and Anne Johnson had seen 7 Purple Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, 2 GND and a Sandwich Tern while down at Bruichladdich, Today, they had 5 Chough, 6  Wheatear, 10 Golden Plover, 2 GND and a Peregrine while walking up at Ardnave. Down at Machir Bay, they saw 20 Chough and also 8 Ringed Plover.
This morning, Mark heard a Sedge Warbler and a short time afterwards James heard a Grasshopper Warbler on the reserve at Gruinart. He had also heard a Whimbrel calling out on the estuary. Also today, Dave Wood had a Lesser Whitethroat at Upper Killeyan on the Oa

Thursday 19th April

Gary sent through a list of birds seen this morning while carrying out his WeBS count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck....22 GND, 17 R B Merganser, 2 Cormorant, 23 Shag, 1 Common Guillemot, 6 Tysties, 99 Eider, 48 Common Scoter, 28 Mallard, 16 Wigeon, 15 Oystercatcher, 21 Curlew, 10 Redshank,  130 Ringed Plover, 20 Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 93 Lapwing, 29 Common Snipe, 61 Golden Plover, 17 Whimbrel, 1 Osprey, 36 Shelduck, 1 Common Sandpiper, 60 Barnies, 12 Sandwich Tern, a Razorbill, 10 GBB Gull, 10 LBB Gull, 125 H Gull and 76 Common Gull. Other birds seen on shore was a small flock of 11 Twite, 7 Linnet singing on territory, 3 Yellowhammer singing, loads of Pied Wagtail, 6 White Wagtail, and 2 Sedge Warbler heard on the Moss Road.

Friday 26th January

This morning, I gave Bob a hand to carry out his WeBs count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck, so here are the birds which we saw.... 1 Slavonian Grebe, 1 GND, 3 Grey Heron, 15 Shag, 5 Cormorant, 4 Greylag, 999 Barnies, 60 Whitefronts, 9 Shelduck, 12 Mallard, 39 Teal, 80 Wigeon, 5 Goldeneye, 2 Eider, 4 R b Merganser, 25 Turnstone, 85 Oystercatcher, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 202 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 148 Barwit, 3 Knot, 32 Dunlin, 13 Redshank, 23 Ringed Plover, 1 Grey Plover, 40 Golden Plover, 82 Lapwing, 12 Gbb Gull, 12 C Gull, 220 H Gull and 3 B h Gull. Great to see so many Turnstone. It was a great time this morning in flat calm conditions....

Here at home, just after lunchtime, a quick squint out the window and a scan round the air space above the Machir produced a Golden Eagle. Earlier on, just after my return from helping Bob, a Sparrowhawk flew past and through the garden...

Thursday 12th October

Back on Monday, Clive McKay, (please note the correct way of Clive's surname tonight!), after the rain cleared, he had a short walk up at Ardnave, seeing a Wheatear, a Whimbrel, a Pink footed Goose coming in with 17 Barnies, and also a ringtail Hen Harrier. This morning, Bob had seen 3 Fieldfare fly over his house, and a Merlin while he was waiting down in Port Charlotte. Along at Carnain, Bob had 9 Snipe and counted 14 Brent on the shore there as well. Also this morning, Mandy had a ringtail Hen Harrier quartering over the game crop up at Kilchoman, and this afternoon she saw a Sparrowhawk sitting on a fence post, close at hand, also at the same location. James, today had managed to carry out another reserve count which tallied out at 10,195 Barnies, 125 Whitefronts, 16 Brent Geese, 57 Greylags, 560 Lapwing, 5 Blackwits, a male Merlin, a Sparrowhawk and 4 Chough. James also mentioned that "lots of Mallard have arrived".