Monday 8 November

 

White-tailed eagle, Peter Hughes. He counted 2 from the hides at Loch Gruinart this morning, as did Mark Sullivan, plus one at the top of Loch Indaal.

At Currie Sands this morning, I watched a juvenile white-tailed eagle acting oddly, rising and falling just out of sight on a small hill.  My terrier was missing at this point so, fearing the worst, I ran over only to discover the dog apparently had stolen the young birds breakfast! As she was tucking into what was left of a fresh rabbit, the young eagle was rising and falling above her. It did give me an incredibly close encounter though, and I was able to 'call off the dog' and the eagle returned once we left.

Driving back from Bowmore around lunchtime I saw an other WTE over Gortan, escorted by hooded crows.

Mike Bell had a good day:  "Today I had a male hen harrier at Carnain. Along the sheltered Bowmore shore of Loch Indaal around midday there were red-throated diver 2, great northern diver 7, slavonian grebe 2, whooper swan 16, brent goose 64, wigeon 374, scaup 8, eider 22, common scoter 24, long-tailed duck 11 (9 drakes), goldeneye 4 and merganser 77. On the Loch Skerrols circular walk there were fieldfare 40, redwing 40, goldcrest 1, siskin 19, redpoll 9, linnet 40 and bullfinch 4 with a white-tailed eagle over Cnoc Dun Mor at c.1400 hr and a golden eagle there at 1545 hr."

Peter H. continued his day out and just NE of Bowmore had 'tremendous' view of a male long tailed duck (photo), 7 common scoters, 45 pale-bellied Brent, eider and goldeneye.  On the beach a male merlin tucking into a goldfinch lunch. At Bruichladdich a flock of around 20 twite were feeding on the shoreline.

Phil Hyde was checking out Loch Gorm for the ring-necked duck without joy, however he did count 90 tufted duck and 4 pochard.  At Loch Skerrols the American wigeon, long-tailed duck, and little grebe were seen. Mark Sullivan was also at Skerrols and was able to spot the lesser scaup still present there. 

Attachments area

Wednesday 13th January

Well, many thanks are due to Peter who came to my rescue earlier on today, a simple tweak on various bits and bobs on the pc and once again all going well it  has enabled me to access my emails again. I should say that it was Pia that actually solved the problem not Peter, many thanks...

Back on Monday, I should have got this e mail through from Karen Graham, but because of my pc I only received it through late this afternoon, apologies to Karen, my fault...

"Watching a Treecreeper earlier and the Nuthatch. Wet and sometimes windy day. Such a change from the sun and snow."

Yesterday, Peter had walked up past Killinallan to Gortantoid, a round trip of around 6 mles or so, but he at least had seen a Greenshank while out.... This morning, just before lunchtime he saw a pesky Sparrowhawk up here.

 I spoke to James, just after 9pm last night, and he gave some birds for the blog...

"2 Slavonian Grebes seen down on Loch Indaal, a Little Egret, a Peregrine Falcon, a White tailed Eagle and also a Sparrowhawk all seen on/over the reserve at Gruinart." 

Sunday 15th March

Yesterday Dave and Jane Killick had been up at Ardnave,

"On Loch Ardnave there were 5 Goldeneye and a Slavonian Grebe. On the dunes we counted at least 7 Choughs, a Rock Pipit and just south of the loch we saw a single Twite with a Reed Bunting. "

Sunday 5th January

Graeme Ruthven (from Aberdeen) sent another e mail through with the birds that he had seen on last Sunday and also some seen from the ferry on his way back over to Kennacraig last Monday.

There was an adult White Tailed Eagle near Lagavulin also a Little Grebe on the sea near there in the morning with a Great Northern Diver. A large flock of Common Scoter in Loch Indaal right out in the middle of the loch, there was a small flock of about 10 Scaup close in at Bowmore.
Later on, in the afternoon he went back to Ardnave point where he saw an immature Golden  Eagle, 2 possibly 3 White Tailed Eagles and 2 ringtail Hen Harriers just north of Loch Gruinart cottage, it was an amazing hour of birding....

On the return ferry crossing on Monday morning he had 9 Great Northern Divers, 3 Black Throated Divers, 3 Red Throated Divers and finally 2 Slavonian Grebes near Kennacraig.

Another "Islay convert", by the sounds of the emails which I got through from Graeme, many thanks for your sightings, most welcome as ever...

Saturday 7th Septembr

Yesterday evening, Mandy had seen an Eagle eating a Greylag goose on one of the barley stubbles at Rockside...

Today before he headed back home, JD had seen 3 Grey Wagtails round at Kilchiaran. Down at Gortan, on Loch Indaal, he saw 6 Slavonian Grebes all in summer plumage, finally over at the Woollen Mill, 2 bullfinch were present.... As ever many thanks to JD for his sightings when he has been over here on Islay, great when visitors send some of their sightings to share with us..

Sunday 23rd December

Today, Mike Peacock had spent some time birding from Blackrock in calm conditions, out on to Loch Indaal. Top birds seen by Mike were 14 Slavonian Grebe, 23 Scaup and also 5 Long tailed Duck.

Before I forget may I take the opportunity to wish all our readers a Happy Xmas and have a great time over the festive season.

Saturday 9th September

A drier day out here, but possibly not for long.. So some of us been making the most of it!!

Gary this morning had an Osprey out from Gartmain, Carl had seen a couple of Brent Geese down at Port Charlotte. This afternoon Jim Dickson had a couple of Brent Geese at Gruinart, but no sign of the possible Little Stints. Jim also had 2 Slavonian Grebes at Gortan, out from the coal yard on Loch Indaal. This morning, Distillery Dave and myself made use of Jim Dickson and so the 3 of us did the WeBS count in the absence of Bob and Lesley. It was raining at the start, but after a few minutes it dried up and off  we set towards Gartbreck... Our birds seen included 144 Greylags, a Red throated Diver, 2 Cormorant, 35 Shag, 22 Oystercatcher, 82 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 7 Redshank, 19 Ringed Plover, 21 Lapwing, 37 Dunlin, 7 Barwits, 2 Snipe, 1 Ruff, 7 Heron, 10 Black headed Gulls, 322 Herring Gulls,12 CommonGulls, 2 Lbb Guls, 9 Gbb Gulls, 5 Kittiwake, 5 Razorbill, 1 Guillemot, 2 Red breasted Merganser, 7 Mallard, 1 Long tailed  Duck, 42 Eider. We also saw a Sparrowhawk, a Buzzard, a ringtail Hen Harrier . We saw many Rock Pipits on the shore, as well as some small flocks of Goldfinches and a few Linnets enjoying the shoreline seed heads!!!

Sunday 19th March

A better kind of a day, but I believe that the wind might pick up a bit through the night... The Fulmars were back over the crag this morning!!!! Malcolm was in touch to say that he had seen a Jack Snipe down at Foreland road end yesterday, and flushed it again today! He also was saying that he has a female Blackbird in his garden which is nest building already which as Malcolm says "rather early"..

Gary had seen a White tailed Eagle on the merse at Bridgend, down from the mouth of the River Sorn. Along at Uiskentuie, at the mouth of the burn, Gary saw a Slavonian Grebe in summer plumage.

Martin Gocch who won the "Gie's a brek" free holiday draw at the Bird Fair back in August last year is over with a birding friend and their respective wives...Their first visit to Islay. Well impressed noting Chough on arrival at Kilchoman, hearing a Goldcrest in the wood and seeing so many geese, and that was only on their arrival yesterday, wonder what birds they saw today???

Monday 30th November

Another month almost in, a better day, not the warmest, at least it was not that bad, enjoyed wearing a jersey outside! Gary today had covered the patch at the top of Loch Indaal from Bowmore back up to the mouth of the River Sorn below Bridgend, a good variety of birds were seen as follows... 15 Long tailed Ducks, 11 Goldeneye, 33 Slav Grebe, 49 Common Scoter, 53 Greater Scaup, 23 GND, 7 RTD, 121 Mallard, 470 Wigeon, 79 Eider, 43 Teal, 19 Mute Swan, 7 Whoopers, 16 Pale belied Brent, 33 Red breasted Merganser, 21 C Gull, 21 BH Gull, 101 Curlew, 150 Oystercatcher, 93 Barwits, 300 Dunlin & Ringed Plover, 7 Sanderling and a Buzzard. Thanks Gary. This afternoon, here at home, a Buzzard was being chased away from the crag by a pair of Ravens, I had not realised that a Buzzard could fly that quickly, if and when the need arose...

Sunday 19th January

well, as promised I managed to get out and get some birds today, the weather turned out better which helped too! So I went out and gave Bob a hand on his webs count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck. The scores on the doors were as follows, 7 GND, 22 Shag, 1 Cormorant, 4 Heron, 80 Barnies, 7 Whitetfronts,7 Shelduck, 16 Mallard, 149 Wigeon, 80 Teal, 28 Eider, 7 Red breasted Merganssr, 4 Turnstone, 175 Curlew, 192 Oystercatcher, 8 Barwits, 2 Redshank, 22 Dunlin,88 Ringed Plover, 40 Lapwing, 9 GBB Gull, 80 Herring Gull and 25 Common Gulls. Bob told me that he too had seen the Scaup on Loch Indaal on Friday afternoon and had counted 130 in the raft, also there were 2 Slavonian Grebes. Earlier during the week while out on the Goose counts, at Eollabus, Bob had 60 Woodpigeon.

Saturday 17th December

This Snow Bunting was taken by Mary this morning down at Portnahaven, after it had been in for a feed at the bird table. It has been present since the gales last weeks coming in with the Chaffinches to be fed! Mary had a count of over 5,000 Barnacle Geese on the reserve at Gruinart through the week, along with 300 Greenland Whitefronts and 150 Greylags. The leucistic Barnie is still up at Ardnave, over at Killinalan the numbers of geese were not as many but Mary reckons that there has been a juv. Golden Eagle over there! On her way to work, most mornings she has been seeing a Barn Owl out hunting, just she was coming out of Portnahaven. Yesterday, Mary had carried out a farmland bird survey and noticed more Blackbirds around, the largest flock was 13 along with 3 Redwing. Quite a lot of Reed Buntings were seen too, the largest count being 23 at Moulin. Today James had 7 Whoopers at Gruinart, and also 3 different Hen Harriers, 2 females and 1 male. Below the visitor centre there were 14 Long tailed Tits present, as were 4 Red Deer stags. Peter had a Slavonian Grebe in Bowmore Harbour, almost in summer plumage and a further 6 out on Loch Indaal itself. Yesterday Malcolm had a 1st winter Iceland Gull over on Jura.

Tuesday 18th October

Today, James had a count of 101 Whooper Swans over on Gruinart, the large group of Whoopers is still present down at Rockside, and I felt that there appeared to be more birds present, but I did not count them... Mary had led the guided walk down on the Oa this morning, and the weather was not great, but the birds were out in force. 4 Golden Eagles, 6 Golden Plover, 1 Fieldfare, 2 Merlin, 2 Hen Harriers, 18 Hooded Crows (Mary said they could possibly be all young birds), 2 Ravens and 2 Chough. A visiting birder over for the week had 2 Slavonian Grebes on Loch Indaal close to Bowmore, and over at the spit on the Strand at Uiskentuie, they had a Snow Bunting.

Sunday 2nd October

Bob was out on Frenchman’s Rock this morning and saw big number of auks heading south quite far of the shore. He also saw 5 red-throated divers, 12-15 skuas far of the shore – at least one great and one arctic. On his way back he saw juvenile peregrine, male and female merlin, female hen harrier and a kestrel. Later in the afternoon him and Martin had good views of a pectoral sandpiper amongst 12 ruff from the hide on the Loch Gruinart Reserve and on their way home they saw 12 turnstones, 2 slavonian grebes, another 5 red-throated divers 14 eiders and 14 red-breasted mergansers – all at Loch Indaal. On the salt marsh at Loch Gruinart the number of brent geese is slowly decreasing – only 63 today. There was also a peregrine, 4 grey plovers, 300 dunlin and about 20 redshanks. On Gruinart Flats there was flock of 213 lapwing with 5 ruffs. Nick Wilkinson had a female blackcap in the Gruinart woods. Number of ducks on Floods is increasing slowly but surely – at least 50 teal, 15 mallard and about 20 wigeon this evening. Juvenile golden eagle was seen yesterday and today on the reserve as well. Visitors reported flock of linnets, goldfinches and twite from The Oa. They also saw 5 redwings, 6 wheatears, a willow warbler, goldcrest, merlin, peregrine and several buzzards.

Mon 18th October

The weather certainly has changed over the last week, a lot colder now, in fact I heard that there was a fall of Hail stones up at Sanaigmore this afternoon.

Malcolm e mailed today to say that possibly the Greenfinch had an infection from a papilloma virus, " a warty growth mainly on the legs and feet, and sometimes around the mouth and not always fatal". This morning Malcolm had seen around 320 Golden Plover over at Coull Farm. Other smaller flocks were also seen by visitors, 75 over near to the Machrie Golf course, 70 round at Ballinaby. An Otter was in the bay just after the Dower House at Kildalton, and later on the same folk had 4 Redpoll and 15 Crossbill at Avonvoggie in the trees.

I was shown an image this evening of some Barnacle Geese at Gruinart, and in the same image was a Canada goose and also a Pink footed Goose as well!

Other visitors had seen a Slavonian Grebe on the edge of a group of Scaup on Loch Indaal just out from Glenburn. Further on at "smelly corner" 3 Grey Plovers were seen amongst the flock of Barwits present. Off Gartmain in the choppy sea were 20 Pale bellied Brent Geese. On their way home they saw a Hen Harrier being chased by a Buzzard over at Saligo.

Sat 31st Oct

Had an e mail through from Paul Kenyon who was over on Islay last week. Paul was fortunate to see both the Cattle Egret and the Little Egret. On Loch Indaal, he also had 4 Long tailed Ducks, 3 Velvet Scoter as well as 5 Slavonian Grebe. Thanks for that info Paul.

I think that the Little Egret has moved on as I have not heard about it since last Monday, and possibly that the Cattle Egret has moved through as well, as it has not been seen since Wednesday, as far as I know.

Mon 30th March

Almost another month has past, and with the wind going round to a Southerly later this week, some of the Geese may try their luck and fly North. Talking of Geese, and Tracey and the team e mailed last weeks figures through and they added up to 37,033 Barnies and 5,908 Whitefronts. Thanks again folks.

The weather here today has been a bit mixed, with the sea haar coming and going, having said that, one of our visitors had seen Long tailed Ducks on Loch Indaal and a Slavonian Grebe in summer plumage. Over a Coull Farm, he had a large flock of Golden Plover. The lads from Lancashire had 10 Wheatear, and the previous evening had a Barn Owl out hunting.

Wed 18th Feb

Another image through from Michal tonight, taken today when he was over on Jura. What can one say?

George has been on the phone to say that he had 80 Greylags and a Pinkfooted Goose in his fields today, while out on Loch Indaal he had 20 Wigeon, a Great Northern diver and yesterday, there were 2 Razorbill. GJ

Another visiting birder had been in touch with his list from today, consisting of 26 Snow Bunting at Ardnave, 37 Whoopers , 40 Goldeneye on Loch Skerrols, over 50 Ravens up between Storakaig and Barr while on Loch Indaal there were 13 Long tailed Ducks and 5 Slavonian Grebe. On his way home he had a flock of 50 Redwing at Rock Mountain.

Tues 8th April

Quite a lot to report tonight, so here goes...

George phoned in today to say that he had a Green Sandpiper down at Bruichladdich, the first for this year, while off the pier at Bruichladdich on Loch Indaal he had 3 Razorbill and on the shoreline a pair of Shelduck, are they looking for a nest site? GJ

Andy had 12 Slavonian Grebe in summer plumage and 20 Great Northern Diver between Bowmore and Bruichladdich on Loch Indaal itself. There were also a small group of 8 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Blackrock, possibly the first of them starting to move through. RAS

Mick Durham saw a first summer male King Eider, in a group of 20 Eider on the Sound of Islay, and another visiting birder contacted me to say that he had the Green winged Teal over at Loch Gruinart reserve on Sunday.

Here at home there was Buzzard sightings, one of a pair mating while earlier on today the Raven came off it's nest and defended its territory, chasing the Buzzard away! Michal has sent me in a survey that he carried out, but I will give you his figures tomorrow.

Tues 1st April

Yes, it's that time again, as we have the latest figures in from Margaret and Tracey at SNH

for the latest Goose Counts. The International Count held on 18/19 March gave totals of 44,961 Barnacle Geese and 7,086 Greenland Whitefronts. The following count on the 27/28 March were 44,730 Barnies and 6,941 Whitefronts. We only have one Goose Count left and this takes place next week. Thanks again to the team for the figures.

In between the squally showers today, Andy had 4 Slavonian Grebe in full summer plumage in Loch Indaal and also 30 Razorbill. On the weather forecast this evening, it was stated that here on Islay we had the strongest wind speed for the whole of Scotland today, with a speed of 57mph recorded at the Airport. RAS

Sat 9th Feb

The Bar-headed Goose has been seen again in the fields at Cornabus over at Port Ellen, so it has not left us yet! Dave P.

The Glaucous Gull is still at Ballinaby, as are the Iceland Gulls in the Saligo area, as reported in the blog of Wed 6th February. There was a 1st winter Glaucous Gull seen off the pier at Bruichladdich, along with the following Divers, 9 Great Northern Diver, 4 Red throated Diver, 1 Black throated Diver, 7 Slavonian Grebe and 8 Common Scoter. On the Shoreline there were 12 Purple Sandpiper below the Distillery.

Up at Ardnave there was a group of 5 Snow Bunting on the track just beside the silage pit before you come to Ardnave Loch itself. An immature Golden Eagle was seen flying over RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve. Down at Avonvoggie, a male Crossbill was seen and heard singing, will it remain to breed, one asks? RAS

Up at Sanaig, there was a single Great Nortern Diver out in the bay and 20 Turnstone were on the shore. MAO