Tuesday 27th October

 Rather cool outside today, so probably the reason for an early entry..

Mike Bell is back over for his annual Islay fix, he came over yesterday on the ferry leaving Kennacraig at 13.00, so here are some birds that he had seen yesterday...  "Not the nicest day for travelling.  3 Tysties in the Sound of Islay. The Golden  Eagle showed well, initially at Rockside 4.15 pm then c.5 pm appeared behind the cottage with a Pheasant and flew off south up the burn."

Neil McMahon and the team from Naturetrek had seen the following birds etc when out....

"We spent some time at Bowmore this morning in an effort to espy the Rose-coloured Starling but no joy. Three GN Divers flew south quite high over the village and a light passage of finches south included a single calling Tree Sparrow quite high up! Either it's the Gruinart bird or as a species they are on the move! One or two Sparrowhawk(s) were trying their luck with the Starlings and the female Long-tailed Duck was still present. On our drive from Bowmore to Bridgend there was a small gaggle of Pale-bellied Brents on the shores of Loch Indaal and a flying immature White-tailed Eagle that veered off south. 

At Port Askaig, (overlooking the Sound of Islay) we saw a Gannet, 12 Kittiwakes, a light passage of Eiders, a Sparrowhawk and a distant White-tailed Eagle. Jura was similarly wind-blasted as Islay and we failed to see any Otters. There were 6 Great Northern Divers (five adults) at Craighouse plus 2 Black Guillemots and 2 Long-tailed Ducks. Small birds in the trees/bushes included a Siskin, Coal, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests. A Grey Wagtail and several Rock Pipits were around the beach and burn outlets. An adult male Hen Harrier was seen briefly at Feolin."

Dan Brown, one of the film camera men who are over until mid November had been out and about too..

I  forgot to mention a female Goosander at the mouth of the Laggan river on 24th October.

I have a few more sightings from yesterday afternoon including:

juv Iceland Gull and adult Sabine's Gull on the west side of Gruinart Estuary

Green-winged Teal and Wood Sandpiper on the floods at the RSPB reserve,

Brambling with the Chaffinches west of Sunderland Farm.

Steve Percival had a Cackling Goose on the flats and then at Grainel.

Mid morning I received this e mail through from Dan,

Today there’s a drake American Wigeon on Loch Skerrols and Snow Bunting at Smelly Corner (Carnain). 

 

Tuesday 29th October

Yesterday the RAFOS team had a Treecreeper out in front of their cottages where they are staying, Bob yesterday had seen 2 Goosanders out on Loch Indaal, in front of the Gaelic college.

This morning JD had seen some Siskins as well as some Redpolls down at Easter Ellister. Later on when he was out doing some birding wih Bob, they had seen 12 Goldcrests, 15 Wood Pigeons and also 2 Treecreepers along at Foreland. Amongst a large flock of Barnies present at Coull, they also saw 5 Pinkies and 2 P b Brent as well as a young Peregrine. Down on Machir Bay, no Snow Buntings were present, but a Med Gull was seen. After visiting us, when I was seeing them away, we saw 6 Long tailed Tits and a Song Thrush.

JW and his fellow birders had been at Kinnabus this morning where they had counted 150 Twite with 25 Rock Doves nearby. They also had 2 Hen Harriers there as well. Over at Kildaton, they had 5 Yellowhammers and shortly afterwards they saw 2 White tailed Eagles. A Slav Grebe was seen out on the water further along the coast down there. 

Monday 4th February

Yesterday, Mike and Val Peacock saw 29 Fieldfare, 7 Redwing, a Mistle Thrush, a Greater    spotted Woodpecker and also a Treecreeper, all down at Foreland. Yesterday, Gary Turnbull had seen a nice male Goosander coming to land on the water at the mouth of the Margadale River, over at Bunnahabhain. A  real busy day yesterday, with Gary and Wendy seeing Teal and also some Pale bellied Brent Geese from Carnain. As the light started to fade, early evening, they saw a Barn Owl, over the pool behind their cottage. Here at home, we had a Kestrel on top of the electricity pole.

This morning, we saw a couple of Golden Eagle soaring aroundout over the crag in the beautiful sunrise, with no wing beats to help them to fly.  Bob was up this afternoon, and the Eagles were out again in roughly the same place, but, ( there is always a but!!) there was a Buzzard flying close to them before it peeled off and returned to its' own "patch". James had seen a Golden Eagle over the reserve at Gruinart, and also the Little Egret was still present. Mike and Peter had seen a Tystie in breeding plumage at the top of Loch Indaal, between Blackrock and round to the Gaelic Colege, out of Bowmore. Other birds of note included 15 Scaup, 8 Long tailed Duck, 20 Slavonian Grebe and also 12 Common Scoter.

***  Stop the press, breaking news** 
Ashley Saunders is over on Islay this week leading a group from Oriole Birding and had seen a Cackling Goose just at the start of the High road, in from Springbank. Keep them coming Ashley...

Sunday 13th May

George Newall forgot to mention that the other day he had seen a male Goosander when in at Loch Skerrols. Yesterday Mike Peacock had watched an immature White tailed Eagle being mobbed for a total of 57 minutes, before being able to fly away. The attacking mob were a male Hen Harrier,  a pair of Ravens, 7 Hooded Crows and a Gbb Gull... Today, Mike had seen a GND in full summer plumage off Port Charlotte, 2 Common Sandpipers on the shore and also 18 Whimbrel flying high in a Northerly direction. This afternoon, George Newall had a probable Redstart when over at Claggain Bay. This morning, Distillery Dave, Bob and myself carried out a survey from the Woollen Mill down along the River Sorn to its mouth below Bridgend. top birds seen/ heard were 2 Bullfinch, a Spotted Flycatcher, 2 young Dippers and at least 6 Grey Wagtail. Distillery Dave had 3 Whimbrel as he walked down to his lift with me from Rockside. Down on Loch Gorm, we counted 30 Greylag on the water.

Some sightings now from today from the RAFOS team who over for this week, great to see all you folks again.. At Kilchoman, they saw a ringtail Hen Harrier. Down at the reed bed beside the Coastguards a Grasshopper Warbler was present, 3 Dunlin and also 3 Common Sandpiper were at the pool just past Saligo towards Ballinaby. A Whitethroat heard at Gortan, a ringtail at Gortan. South of Port Charlotte they saw 5 Greylags along with 5 young gosling and soon afterwards 9 Whimbrel. At Port Wemyss, they  had a Corncrake calling away, with 2 Common Sandpipers there as well. Back up at Port Charlotte, they saw both Arctic and Sandwich Terns, while at Bruichladdich, another Artic Tern was spotted with 9 Ringed Plover on the shore

Back here at home, late afternoon, some of the RAFOS team along with Distillery Dave and his wife Ann along with Margaret and myself did a wee bit of birding, noting the Tree Sparrows, a few Sand Martins, some Swallows as well as the antics of the Chough, great to watch as ever!!!

Thursday 25th January

Ed Burrell has returned to continue on with his studies into the Whitefronts. Yesterday, Ed had seen a 1st winter Iceland Gull between Claddach and Portnahaven. He also had seen the Todd's Canada Goose down at Cornabus. Today, Ed had a Glaucous Gull over close to Laphroaig and also some Crossbills at Cornabus. Gary, today had seen 2 Glaucous Gull and an Iceland Gull amongst the large numbers of Gbb Gull, H Gull, C Gull and B h Gull between Bowmore harbour and Bun an Uisg. From the Auction Market at Bridgend down to the mouth of the River Sorn Gary had 18 Long tailed Tits, a Great spotted Woodpecker and also a male Goosander. Late afternoon, here at home, I managed a quick count of the Choughs as they flew into the roost, 34 in all... being very vocal as usual.... Louise, this morning, had an Iceland Gull and also a Glaucous Gull in what was a field of stubble turnips round at Ballinaby, now just a muddy mess...

Thursday 11th January

Yesterday Bob had a Brambling in his garden, his first this time round, as he did not get to see one in the Autumn... Also yesterday, Bob had been out Goose counting with Catherine, up the River Laggan, past Mulindry on the "Glen road" they saw a pair of Goosander while on Tuesday while out on the Loch Gorm run, with Fiona, they had seen an Iceland Gull over at Ballinaby, a different gull to the one that is down at Machir Bay.

Monday 4th December

Back on Saturday, Gary had seen 2 White tailed Eagles over at Bunnahabhain and also a male Goosander. Yesterday, Peter and Mike had been down on the Oa and at Kinnabus had helped out with the catching and ringing of some Twite with all the birds getting a colour ring as well as a BTO ring fitted. Pia yesterday afternoon, had watched a White tailed Eagle "dispatching" a Barnacle Goose over the merse at Bridgend, but she was not sure as to whether it was a freshly caught bird or possibly it might have been an injured Barnie...

Marsali sent through rainfall tally for November from Mulindry with the figure coming in at 5.4 inches, almost an inch drier than November last year, say no more....

Here at home midmorning the ringtail Hen Harrier flew over the garden, down over the game crop and then away out over the Machir. At lunchtime, a Sparrowhawk flew past but in the reverse way to the Harrier, both great to see though!!! There were 39 Goldfinches at the feeders early afternoon with over 60 Chaffinches present as well..

Friday 1st November

Thanks to James for writing last night's entry. PC still on the blink but the wee laptop has come to the rescue.... As it is the start of November now, the rainfall for October tallied through at 6.75", glad to see the back of it! Robin from Yorkshire dropped in this afternoon for a blether and the obloigatory cuppa. Highlights so far from Robin were as follows, on Loch Gruinart close to Bun an Uillt, Gadwall, Grey Plover, and Greenshank were seen, Sanaigmore Bay had 2 GND and 2 Otters at the same time! On the darkening the other evening, a WTSE was causing concern to the Geese present. Today down on Loch Indaal, off Gortan, Robin saw a Goosander. Robin also commented on seeing more WTSE this visit compared to Golden Eagles!

Sunday 10th March

A bitterly cold easterly wind with flurries of snow, for Mothers day on Islay. A few good birds- a pair of Goosanders on the Grey river at Erasaid, was birds of the day for me. Also on the Gruinart Flats, 200 Golden Plover and loads of Lapwing. Some visiting birdwatchers reported a couple of ring tail Hen Harriers from the hide.

Tuesday 1st May

Yesterday, Dave down on the Oa had 1 House Martin, 2 Dippers, 3 Swallows, 4 White Wagtails as well as a Peregrine, a Kestrel and also a Hen Harrier. Mary had from the hides at Gruinart had 5 broods of Mallard of differing ages, 5 pairs of Shoveler, 5 Moorhen, 4 Snipe (some drumming), 18 White Wagtails, she had another 14 Wagtails along at the new hide, 3 Whoopers and also 5 Black tailed Godwit in summer plumage. The Hampshire birders today had 2 Yellowhammer out at Gortantoid. Other birders had a Goosander, but forgot to say where! George had 4 Goldfinch, 4 Greenfinch as well as 8 House Sparrows on his feeders at Shorefield. Back here at home, the rain gauge tallied out at just over 3 inches for the month, and today the temperature was up to 18 degrees, what a change from the cold weather of late, even cut some grass after tea tonight...

Friday 24th February

Bob & Lorna Young had a count of over 100 Rooks up at Ardnave on Tuesday. Later on, down at Machir Bay they had 20 Common Gulls, there were 6 Chough up in the dunes and they also had a Male Hen Harrier on their way home. On Wednesday, at Ardnave they had over 40 Chough, while on the ground they had "lots of Lapwings and Starlings" as well as a large number of Barnacle Geese.

Today visitors had seen a Kestrel at Coal Ila, and up at Ardnahoe Loch, 5 male Goosanders were present. The weather today has been quite good, especially when you think it is only February...

Saturday 14th May

Another of the images from Andy Robinson, this time of the Little Egret that was out in front of the hide last week. Other folk who sent entries through recently included Gordon & Pauline Yates, Dot & Andy Street and also John Forbes from Whitley Bay, many thanks to you all for your input.

Peter Roberts who had his friend George over from USA for a few days had a great 4 days and saw 107 different species including a Purple Sandpiper in summer plumage at Bruichladdich on Thursday. The Brent Goose was seen at Bowmore. Claggain Bay held a male Goosander along with 2 females in the sea close offshore. Woodcock were roding at dusk at Bridgend woods earlier in the week. Yes, George did get his sighting of a Grasshopper Warbler! Yesterday afternoon, before George left, they had fantastic sighting of a dog Otter at the yatch marina in Port Ellen Harbour, both far off and also close at hand. It stayed for ages and kept coming up with butterfish!

This morning Bob and Martin had taken a walk out from Bowmore along "The Battery" towards Gartbreck and they saw the following, 1 Knot, 1 Grey Plover, 50 Bar tailed Godwit, 6 Whimbrel, 10 Curlew, 250 Ringed Plover, 300 Dunlin, 50 Oystercatcher, 2 Redshank and a drake Shoveler. This was the first time that Bob has had a Shoveler there this year.

Friday 11th March

Rather cool over here today with the odd shower of hailstones thrown in for good measure...

Bob was on the phone, earlier this evening with some sightings. The last couple of days, Bob has been out Goose counting on different "routes" around Islay. Yesterday down in the Cornabus area behind Port Ellen, he had seen the 2 large Canada geese amongst the other geese present. He had seen 2 different Golden Eagles on his travels yesterday and today whilst doing another route, at the other end of Islay, he had seen a White tailed Sea Eagle, and on Ardnahoe Loch 4 Goosanders were seen. Back at home and on the feeders in his garden, Bob had a count of 30 Goldfinch, 40 House Sparrows and a few Greenfinch. Like George, a Greenfinch is not that common to Bob's garden. Over in the fields beside Bob's house the Lapwings are displaying and the Curlews, or Whaups, as some folk know them as, are calling away. A sign that Spring cannot be that far away!

Tuesday 4th January

Stuart MacDonald who had been over staying at the New Year had seen 2 male Goosanders on the pool just beside Red Lodge on the High road on his way down to Port Ellen and the ferry yesterday.

Today, James had been in at Loch Skerrols and had counted 6 Coots, 29 Whooper Swans, 4 Pochard, 5 Siskin, a Sparrowhawk and commented on the large number of Wigeon present.

I was speaking with James over the holiday period and he was saying that along with Eleanor, they had raised the best part of £3,200 on their epic Kayak across Scotland back in September, so feel free to send any spare cash you may have to swell the coffers even more. I certainly know that they raised far more than they expected, well done to the two of them, and to Sally as back up crew on the ground rather than on the water!

Sat 4th Sept

This morning Bob Davison had seen a juvenile Goosander while he was over at Gruinart and also 30 Wigeon, so that is possibly the start of some of our wintering ducks returning. This afternoon, a visiting birder had an adult American Golden Plover in amongst the Dunlin again over at Gruinart. It appeared to be quite settled and did not fly off, not to be seen again!

Harvest today has been put on hold, as there has been the odd shower, not a lot, but enough to stop the combines and balers!

Thurs 8th May

Big brother is watching you....

This is one of the Lapwing nests on the flats at Gruinart which has a camera on it 24/7. The reason behind it, is to help watch for any predation that may occur at the nest. Once James and the team see anything untoward they will let us know.

Also on the reserve at Gruinart, James had a Barn Owl hunting the other evening at dusk. A few Whimbrel are still moving through yet and a Peregrine Falcon was seen too. JRH

Down on the RSPB Oa reserve, on the other side of Islay, Gus Keys has had a good day with a Shore Lark at Upper Killeyan, a Swift flying by down beside the American Monument, the male Goosander is still to be seen on Loch Kinnabus. This evening a Male Ring neck Duck appeared on the loch amongst some Tufted Duck. A.K.

Around Loch Gorm, there were several fields with small number of Whimbrel, less than 10 in each field. M.S.

The field where the Greylags were yesterday, are now up to 20 Geese on the newly sown game crop! A visiting birder contacted me to say that he had seen 7 different male Hen Harrier at different locations today. I.K.B.

From over on Jura, Louise was in touch to say that she had seen a Magpie on Scarba, a Great Northern Diver in full summer plumage, a White tailed Sea Eagle, a Peregrine Falcon, a Golden Eagle as well as a Buzzard, and on a small island in the Sound of Jura, there were quite a few Canada Geese. L.G.

On another front, Michael Coppleston had an female Emperor Moth in the moth trap at Gruinart last night. Through the day he had seen Marsh Fritillaries out on the wing. Susan McGhie had a Peacock butterfly over in her garden in Ballygrant.

Tues 15th - Thurs 17th April

Apologies for not putting any entries on the blog for the last 2 days, but I have been busy with Walkislay, the walking week here on the island.

Tracey and the team from SNH forwarded on the final numbers for the year of the count which took place on the 3rd and 4th of April. The tally was 46,515 Barnies and 6,101 Whitefronts, just as well they were counted then as almost all the Geese have flown North, with the last big group moving out on Tuesday night. It was odd for a few days to have the Geese still here while we had the arrival of some of the Spring migrants. Many thanks to everyone involved in the Goose Counts and to SNH for providing the data to me.

There are now a lot of Wheatear and Willow Warbler to be seen round the island, and we even noticed them over on Colonsay when over doing the walk yesterday with Walkislay. I spotted my first flowering Bluebell of the year in a sheltered spot on our way to Kiloran Bay. Also, at the Pier there were several Great Northern Diver, as well as some Eider in the bay. Back here on Islay, was my first House Martin down over the reedbed at the Coastguard Cottages. IKB

Andy reported in to say that on Tuesday, the first winter Iceland Gull was still over at Port Ellen, and there were 7 Sandwich Terns seen over Port Ellen Bay. Up at the Woolen Mill at Bridgend, 2 Dipper were on the River Sorn. On Wednesday, Andy had 2 House Martin at home, 12 Sandwich Tern in Port Ellen Bay, while Gus had a Common Sandpiper at Stremnish on the Oa, as well as a Great Skua. John had 2 Chiffchaff in Bridgend Woods. On to today, Thursday and Andy had 2 common Sandpiper at Seal Bay down beyond Ardbeg, and 3 Swallow at Carnain. This afternoon, he had 25 Golden Plover along with 2 Dotterel in a ploughed field at Ballinaby. The birds had previously been flushed out of another field by a Peregrine. RAS, AK & JSA

On the guided walk at RSPB Gruinart reserve, this morning there were 3 Dunlin in summer plumage as well as 6 Black tailed Godwit, but surpisingly no sign of any Pintail, and only the odd Barnie seen flying away, and no Whitefronts at all. JRH

Breaking news, as I write, Gus reoprted in to say that a Male Goosander had just flown in at Loch Kinnabus. AK

Sun 18th - Mon 19th Nov

Sightings from around Islay, coming in thick and fast from our contributors on many good bird sightings. Before I forget, many thanks to James for keeping the blog up to date while I was away, soaking the sun up in Jersey, only one wet morning, so no real complaints.... By the way, it is now James turn to be our off island correspondent, Rutland Water look out!

There were 38 Brent geese at Blackrock briefly on Saturday, resting up, before heading over the water to Ireland. Up on Ardnave Loch on Sunday, there was 2 Whoopers and 1 Mute Swan along with numerous Wigeon and Teal and 40 Greylag Geese. On Monday, 8 Whoopers were seen flying down Loch Indaal. GJ

On the Oa, on Loch Kinnabus there were 2 Goosanders, and on the RSPB reserve on the Oa there was a Lapland Bunting. While going over on the ferry to Kennacraig a Grey Phalarope was seen. AK

5 Snow Buntings were up at Ardnave while a Golden Eagle was observed down at RSPB Loch Gruinart. JRH

A Northern Chiffchaff was spotted in Bridgend woods on Monday by a visiting birdwatcher on Monday, and here at home we had a male Blackcap on the feeders, also on Monday. MAB