Monday 11 October

It felt a lot warmer today, which explains an adder spotted by Anna Hock near Ballameanach cottages today. I was out the other night with the dog and he appeared with a huge (healthy) hedgehog from the overgrown verges near Portnahaven Village Hall, much to delight and amazement of my 5 year old who was hedgehog hunting! (definately unharmed) Tonight, 2 tiny toadlets were crossing the road near the old Manse outside Port Wemyss.  October can often be a fair month right enough, but it is forecast to get even warmer this week so be mindful of your dog when out walking in case of grumpy adders! But winter is coming...

A lot of reports received today, apologies if I miss anything - I may save some for tomorrow so don't be disheartened! 

Among the day's records was a grey phalarope spotted by Tim Daley in a rock pool just North of Saligo Bay.  It allowed close views and the opportunity for good photos. Lovely bird to see, thanks Tim.  Tim  was at RSPB Loch Gruinart in the morning, and enjoyed a ring-tailed hen harrier 'cruise across the field'.  In the pools, among the 100s of wigeon and teal there was a male shoveler seen as well as a pair of pintail and 15 black-tailed godwits.  Up to 100 golden plover were in flight overhead, while he noted 8 mistle thrush from the roadside.  In the Saligo area, near the phalarope, 2 pairs of chough and 16 pied wagtails were counted.

The geese have continued to trickle in, Teresa was at Ardnave today and counted 1204 barnies arriving in the 5 hours she was there. Lauren has been in touch with today's totals from Loch Gruinart: 23 white front, 21 pale-bellied brents, 1 pink footed goose (all on the loch) and 6895 barnacle geese feeding on the flats.

Teresa was at Ardnave point for 5 hours this afternoon at low tide. On the east side she enjoyed a good day, her highlights were 37 twite, 4 male snow bunting, 3 cormorants, 13 turnstone, 11 chough, 14 oystercatcher, 3 red-breasted merganser, 6 curlew and 4 seals.  At Lech Gruinart one female/ringtail hen harrier hunting at dusk.

Out with his camera Billy Stitchell had a brambling with the house sparrows, feeding on a rowan tree in Ballygrant woods.

David Dinsley counted 2 Greenland whitefront and 3 wigeon at Cornabus.  He also kindly sent in the following image of a merlin at the Oa, happily digesting one of the resident twite. Resident no more.

Margaret had a flock of whoopers fly over the house heading towards Ireland, the first of the season for her. She also enjoyed views of a male hen harrier hunting below the crag.

David Livingstone had nice views of a white-tailed eagle at Leorin, spooking the geese there. 

Thank you everyone.  

Friday 15th May

Lesley was in touch by e mail today...

"A walk along Loch Gorm today as the Osprey wasn’t around. I was not expecting anything new as I think most avian summer visitors have arrived however I did see 2 beautiful female golden/ rich brown Common Adders sunning themselves on the track. They both were at least 18-22 inches long and were socially aware being about 6 feet apart!!! Also there must be some plump Song Thrushes around as there were loads of anvil stones and broken snail shells. A few waders on the shore, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Ringed Plover and about 10 Dunlin."

James also sent through an e mail with his top birds seen today..
" A couple of birds – little and large

A Spotted Flycatcher and White tailed Eagle, both seen from the garden at Mill Cottage."

Friday 24th April

Lesley had seen a Song Thrush with food and Cuckoo calling next to the house the other day.

Mandy sent me through this e mail

"Yesterday evening, as I started to walk up the Sanaig road, a Merlin flew across in front of me and off towards Loch Gorm, watched it over the field for a few minutes. Lots of Redshank calling down by the loch, and a Grasshopper Warbler was reeling, in a different spot this time. My neighbour had an Adder in his garden today!" 

Tuesday 15th March

Another great day, long may it last... Today, had been the first day of the International goose Count, so we have got some sightings from round Islay from some of the counters involved, contributors to the blog at other times too... Malcolm had been on the Oa run today, and at Mid Cragabus, 2 immature White tailed Eagles were perched on top of fence posts, close to the road. Malcolm also saw a Pinkfooted Goose amongst some Whitefronts at Risabus. Bob had been on the Laggan/ Tallant run.  On the "Laundry Loch" up behind Laggan Farm, 5 Whoopers were present while down at Laggan Farm itself, a male Hen Harrier was seen. At Gartmain, a male Sparrowhawk was spotted while over at Cruach, 3 Pinkfooted Geese were there amongst the Whitefronts. Mandy and Fiona had been on the Kilmeny/ Bunnahabhain route. At Ardnahoe, they saw a Golden Eagle flying over towards Jura, and then a male Hen Harrier and shortly after a ringtail as they headed on to Bunnahabhain. Lesley yesterday had seen an Adder out basking in the sun as she walked out to the "Singing sands" out past Kilnaughton Bay. With the weather staying good again today, I took the chance to get the tractor out and made a start to preparing the 2 pieces of ground in readiness for sowing a  cover crop for the birds next winter. The big downside was the number of stones, one of the areas had very few stones, but the other piece certainly made up for it for sure....

Wednesday 10th September

Another glorious day with the thermometer reaching up to 18 degrees mid afternoon, on Mike's weather station, not bad for an day in Autumn! Mary today had been up on the Moorland trail at Gruinart where she saw a young Golden Eagle, 2 ringtail Hen Harriers and a smart looking male Stonechat. Later on Mary spotted an Adder out sunning itself...Wonder if the moon tonight will be as stunning as it was last night, we will just have to wait and see...

Tuesday 27th May

Another beautiful day with blue skies and wall to wall sunshine, honest.... Yesterday the Rochdale birder, who is back over for some more of Islay, had a count of 41 Sanderling down on the reseed beside the Coastguards. A few moments later, a Peregrine screamed past, he also managed to hear 3 corncrakes calling away at 3 different locations round this end of Islay up around Machir Bay. Today he saw his first Marsh frit of the year and later on he also had a Red Admiral. Down at Claddach he saw 2 Turnstone. Michal today, had been up the top end of Islay and heard a Chiffchaff and also a Cuckoo calling at Bunnahabhain. On the track where he was walking, he also saw a basking Adder out in the sun!. Coming back from Bunnahabhain, Michal had a Grasshopper Warbler as well as a Common Sandpiper at Ardnahoe.

Friday 23rd March

A great image taken of a Shelduck by James Deane. James had been down in the hide at Gruinart, Yes, please note the blue sky....long overdue!!!

The "Port Ellen" visiting birders had been over on Jura yesterday and had 2 male and a female Wheatear, just after Feolin, as well as the usual Oystercatchers, a Ringed Plover and a small flock of 5 Turnstone. In Craighouse Bay, they had 2 Great Northern Divers and a Red throated Diver in near summer plumage. They also had the good fortune to watch an Otter for almost an hour too. On the way home they had seen a White tailed Sea Eagle close to Port Askaig. Bob on Wednesday had a Peregrine having a skirmish with a Herring Gull, yesterday he had 2 pairs of Hen Harriers and also a female Merlin on the Rhinns. At Carn, he had a count of 175 Whitefronts. Up beside his house Bob watched about 12 pairs of Lapwing taking up nesting territory, and he also watched a Skylark dust bathing on the track up behind his house. Mary, yesterday had been out Deer counting at Dunlossit, and she had a flock of around 70 Golden Plover at Storakaig, as well as 16 Hooded Crows. While she was out she also saw a very dark mature Golden Eagle. At the end close to Kilbride Farm a flock of over 50 Whooper Swans flew in , heading North West, wonder if they were for an overnight stop at Gruinart? The "Bolton Birders"on Wednesday had single Little Grebes at Ballygrant Loch, Lily Loch, Loch nan Cadhan and another on Loch Allan. There were 7 Tufted Duck on Lilly Loch, 6 on Lily Loch and a further pair on Ardnahoe Loch, also there were 5 Whoopers. 2 Golden Eagles were seen up towards Bunnahabhain with a Great Northern Diver on the Sound of Islay. 2 Long tailed Tits were at the Lily Loch, while Goldcrest were at Ballygrant Loch, Loch Allan & Lily Loch. On the pond beside Carnain, there were 20 Teal and the pair of Mute Swan were also there. Further on, on Loch Indaal, the Canada Goose was in the water. Also at Ballygrant, there was a Mistle Thrush, one in the village itself and another in the woods. Yesterday, they had been up at Killinallan, and in the dunes in a sheltered spot, curled up was an Adder. Along Traigh Baile Aonghais there were 56 Sanderling. At one time they saw 4 Buzzards out over the dunes. Back at Bun an Uillt, mid afternoon, they had 32 Pintail, 12 Shoveler, around 80 Wigeon, 6 Goldeneye, 12 Red breasted Merganser, 50 Shelduck, 1 Greenshank, 16 Redshank, 20 Bar tailed Godwit, 6 Curlew and 2 Great Northern Diver. A pair of Stonechats were seen at Saligo and a male Wheatear at Machir Bay.

On to today now, a visiting birder from Northants had an Osprey fly over Ardnahoe Loch and on towards to Jura and he also had a Goldcrest here in the wood. Out on the Machir towards the War Graves cemetery, he had 4 Wheatear, 7 Chough, and down on the beach were some Sanderling and a few Ringed Plover. Visitors from Lincs had 3 different Golden Eagles on the way up to Ardnave, James had been up that way at the same time and had seen them too and also an immature Golden Eagle too. Finally, some birds in from the group from Speyside Wildlife, who are over for a few days. On a pool at Lyrabus, a Glaucous Gull was seen while on the flats at Gruinart amongst the Barnies, the Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp was noted. A distant male Hen Harrier was seen from the flats. Just up at the car park at Ardnave, a Merlin flew past, over the dunes around 35- 40 Chough were present, 4 Wheatear present and a Raven was seen carrying nesting material.

Sunday 29th May

Margaret had her camera to hand yesterday when the Pheasant was out with her youngsters. I am not sure how many are left now as already there are only a few left out of the original 10, nature can be cruel sometimes. Mary had been over on Jura yesterday, only briefly, not competing in the annual race up The Paps! She saw an Otter on the road, and just after Craighouse she had a pair of Shelduck with ducklings. She also had a flock of 20 Dunlin along with 2 Ringed Plover there too. Later on down close to home in Portnahaven, over on MacKenzie Island there is a healthy and very vocal population of Arctic Terns. Today Mary had been at Bunnahabhain where she saw a Common Sandpiper and 2 Black Guillemots. At the other end of Islay, on the Oa she had a 2 Golden Eagles, Wheatears everywhere, a Whinchat too, 2 Ravens, a newly emerged Marsh Fritillary, a female Adder, and on her way back a female Hen Harrier.

Wed 5th Aug

The day started off well with being able to show some of our visitors in the cottages a Peregrine Falcon sitting on the crag. Later on and this afternoon while going down to Bruichladdich, there was a close sighting of a ringtail Hen Harrier, and then just round the corner, an equally close sighting of a Sparrowhawk, both on the wing, but no need for the binoculars!

One of the other visitors in the cottages had seen an Adder sunning itself on the centre of the road when they were over on Jura today!

Thurs 11th June

A few sightings in from James over the past few days, on Monday he had a Water rail on the reserve at Gruinart, Tuesday and he heard 2 Red Grouse calling and saw a female. It is good to hear that are still a few left here on Islay. Wednesday, and he saw a Redpoll, a Whitefronted Goose, 33 Ringed Plover, 28 Dunlin, 18 Arctic Terns as well as an Adder! JRH

Earlier on in the week, down at Glenburn, at the top of Loch Indaal, I saw a Barnacle Goose, but as the road was busy I was unable to stop and get a better look at it. Tonight, as it is a calm evening, Margaret and myself are going to do a quick Corncrake count round our patch, and hopefully be back in by 1am! More figures from that on tomorrow's blog.....

Wed 29th April

This morning, first thing at breakfast time, there was a male Siskin on the nut feeder out on the front lawn. There has been no sign of the woodpecker for a few days now, so possibly she has moved off, having said that she had been hereabouts for the best part of 5 months.

Another visiting birder reported this evening to say there had been 30 Whimbrel feeding in a field at Coultorsay down at Bruichladdich. He had also seen a pair of Adders up at Ardnave!

Over at RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve, James had seen a Water rail this morning and heard a further 2 calling. There was also a male Ruff in full summer plumage on the floods, along with 4 pairs of Shoveler. James also had 5 separate Grasshopper warbler singing today. He also commented on seeing more "skydancing" being done by the Hen Harriers. JRH

Another comment being passed on, is that there appear to more sightings of pairs of Short eared Owls round Islay this year. There have been a few more reports of calling Corncrakes being heard.

Fri 16th May

There was a sighting of a Spotted Flycatcher on RSPB Oa reserve on Islay today, with Gus Keys saying that the Ring necked Duck is still to be seen on Loch Kinnabus, and also the Corncrake can still be heard down there, so hopefully it could remain there and attract a mate. GK

Whilst out for a run round Loch Gorm this evening, I stopped to listen for a Corncrake calling, and was rewarded in seeing not one but two birds together, probably a pair, so as the saying goes, watch this space! The Wood Sandpiper has now moved on. A visitor told me that there were signs over at the Airport, warning people about the Adders, at the Airport itself and even possibly in the terminal building too! IKB

James reported to me that he had seen a Large Red Damselfly over at Gruinart. JRH

The "Springwatch" Shelduck is still at the nest, as she is seen daily returning after feeding. There were 11 Red Deer on the road last night as we returned home. MAB.

Tues 22nd May 07

More work on Ringed Plovers and nothing really new to report (unless I have missed it!) The "candidate" pair of plovers for filmed stardom suddenly seem not to be doing very much at all. Typical!! J.S.A.
3 Little Terns were seen over in the Gruinart area. M.S.
2 Water Rail were heard calling at the weekend over at Gruinart, and the pair of Garganey are still to be seen at the R.S.P.B. Loch Gruinart reserve. J.R.H.
The White-tailed Sea Eagle that was seen on Sunday, was seen again yesterday, this time over the back of Bowmore/ Bridgend area. I.B.
With this recent spell of good weather (for Islay!) quite a few adders have been seen! C.F.