Friday 4th & Saturday 5th April

Two more days of dry, sunny weather with a cool easterly breeze. However, there has been very little bird news to report. Yesterday Clive McK. reported on further movements of geese heading north - some small flocks well after dark, with seemingly few geese left today . Today Ed B. found 10 Black-tailed Godwits on his patch at Loch Cornabus. Clive McK. walked around the Ardnave area finding a Swallow, several Sand Martins, 2 White and sevral Pied Wagtails, 230 Bar-tailed Godwits, 40 Sanderling and a Sparrowhawk, with a Willow Warbler at home at Creag Mhor.

Thursday 3rd April

Continuing high pressure providing dry, sunny weather with a moderate SE wind - very pleasant weather indeed!

More conversations on the WhatsApp today about the Barnacle and White-fronted Geese gradually departing, though James H. reported 3,540 Barnacle Geese still on RSPB Gruinart present along with the leucistic individual that has been around for a while and 8 Black-tailed Godwits. 15 Canada Geese flying north at Gruinart today seemingly only got as far as Ardnave Loch where Clive McK. counted 21 later on. Other geese seen today were 3 Pink-footed Geese at Gruinart and a Brent Goose (plus 2 Sandwich Terns) at Bridgend seen by Andrew Whitehouse.

Valerie Wilson found the female Ring-necked Duck still present but difficult to see on Ballygrant Loch and David D. had 3 Willow Warblers at Ballychatrigan on The Oa. The only other summer migrant reported to day was a Swallow seen by James H. at Gruinart.

Wednesday 2nd April

Another splendid dry day of sunshine and light easterly winds.

A few more geese were noted heading away today, but there was more emphasis on other birds seen:

Ed B. is still seeing Woodcock flighting over the forestry at Cornabus. Valerie Wilson found 50 Golden Plovers and 3 Carrion Crows, then up at the old abattoir at Avenvogie had a Great Spotted Woodpecker,  4 Crossbills and 10 Redpolls.  This afternoon on the Ardnave road she found a Golden Eagle a Swallow and a couple of Hen Harriers and up at Craigens found a Brent Goose with the remaining Barnacle Geese.

Andrew Whitehouse had 6 Whooper Swans over Kilchoman this morning, then our first Blackcap of the summer at Loch Skerrols. It, like a Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff there, was in song. He finished the day's birding in style, finding a female Ring-necked Duck on Loch Ballygrant in amongst the Tufted Ducks.

Tuesday 1st April

A bright sunny and dry day with a strong SE breeze.

The wind is now favourable for our winter geese to head directly to Iceland en route to their breeding grounds in Greenland and there were several observations of exactly that, with confirmation from Steve Percival that the first Barnacle Geese had arrived in Iceland this evening. Clive McK. was videoing thousands of Barnacle Geese (5,000+) setting off early this morning with smaller numbers of White-fronted Geese and 4 Whooper Swans. However, not all the geese have yet departed, and still lingering are the two star attractions: Red-breasted Goose and Cackling Goose found by Marc Eden at Craigens and near the RSPB Visitor Centre, who, earlier, had also been watching the geese disappearing north fast at Sanaigmore along with a flock of 12 Whooper Swans, while a pair of our resident Peregrines were busy copulating!

Other bird news includes mating Wigeon at Cornabus reported by Ed B. That would be a great breeding record for Islay if it comes to anything. Gary Turnbull had a Kingfisher up at Bridgend Merse and a Barn Owl on the fence between Esknish and Eorrabus. Valerie Wilson counted 40 Sand Martins at Easter Ellister and 12 Whooper Swans flying NW over Kilchiaran this afternoon. Clive McK. had a Chiffchaff up at Creag Mhor this morning while Andrew Whitehouse found our first Willow Warbler at Gruinart this afternoon.

A search for the Pied Crow down at Portnahaven yesterday and today didn't find the bird - perhaps it has moved on or is lurking elsewhere on the island.

Monday 31st March

Fairly cloudy, but only light winds and no rain.

Lots of discussion on the WhatsApp group today about migrating Greenland White-fronted Geese as small groups were noted headed NW more or less into the wind. The discussion revolved around whether they'd be better off waiting for the wind to swing round in their favour, with tales of tracked groups going north before that had to just island-hop or return from whence they came when setting off with the wind against them.

Ed Burrell  noted Lapwings incubating eggs on nests, Pied Wagtails nest building and Grey Wagtails nest prospecting at Cornabus. Val Wilson spotted a Pink-footed Goose with White-fronts on the High Road and Mary R. had 20 Brent Geese at Blackrock and a pair of Bullfinches at Carnain.

Andrew Whitehouse was birding in various locations on the Rhinns with the following results:  Loch Gorm - 1 Slavonian Grebe (unusual to find this species on freshwater lochs on Islay), Loch Gruinart - 6 Black-tailed Godwits and single White-tailed Eagle and Little Grebe, Blackrock - 6 Slavonian Grebes, 7 Long-tailed Duck, 27 Red-breasted Mergansers, 5 Great Northern Divers, Bridgend - 4 Sandwich Terns, Loch Skerrols - 50 Sand Martins.

Sunday 30th March

A fine, dry, quite calm day, with more of the same in the offing, with a substantial high pressure system over the UK for much of the coming week.

There were 4 Pink-footed Geese at the top of Loch Indaal seen by Andrew Whitehouse and Valerie Wilson, both of whom noted 2-3 Sandwich Terns there. Later Valerie found the Hoopoe still with us up the Ardnave road north of RSPB Gruinart offices. Andrew later noted Great Spotted Woodpecker calling and Chiffchaff singing at Loch Skerrols and 2 White Wagtails at Ardilistry.

Mary R. down at Claddach scored Islay's first Swallow of summer - well done Mary!

Clive was out birding on a flat calm Loch Indaal this evening finding that a lot of the species more associated with winter are still with us: 52 Great Northern Divers, 41 Eider, 26 Long-tailed Ducks and 23 SDalvonian Grebe - many of the latter now in their lovely breeding plumage.

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Saturday 29th March

A quite cloudy, windy day, starting out dryish, but increasingly with squally rain showers blowing in.

There were several of us heading down to the Portnahaven area this morning to see the Pied Crow. Mary Redman was watching it early on, when it had moved over to Port Wemyss, where I found it a little later. Still very approachable, but being bothered at times by gulls and Hooded Crows. However, it was still managing to scavenge food from back gardens and was seen by others right through the day. Below are a couple of photos that I took on my visit.

Other than that, it has been a quiet day for bird sightings, with Andrew Whitehouse reporting 4 Sand Martins at Easter Ellister and 11 Manx shearwaters off Frenchman's Rocks this afternoon and a high count of 7-8 Siskins on Val P.'s feeders at Port Charlotte.