Sunday 5th February

On Friday, James had been up at Ardnave and had seen the leucistic Bar tailed Godwit, 8 Grey Plover, 2 Purple Sandpiper, 99 Golden Plover and 125 Twite. Last night on his way over to Kilchoman from Grainel, James had a Barn Owl and also 3 Woodcock. This morning there were 12 Fulmars in at the crag, and along the front of the cottages at lunchtime there was a dead Hare. It was still warm, but very thin and no sign of any attack or predation, it was just there, quite peaceful. I wonder whether it was the "dozy" Hare that I had seen in the car lights on Friday evening which seemed unsure of its' surroundings.

Saturday 4th February

Bob yesterday had 8 Goldeneye, 7 Tufted Duck, on Loch Skerrols. Along at Knockdon he had a count of 68 Wood pigeon and a mixed flock of 30 Redwing and 45 Fieldfare. Back up at his home, Bob has been seeing a pair of Buzzards which appear to nest prospecting...

Friday 3rd February

It may be cold outside at present, but so far this month it has been dry, but according to the weather forecast, things are in for a change with some rain coming in through the night, at least they are not forecasting snow for here!

Yesterday, Bonnie, Dave's wife had 15 Golden Plover and a Golden Eagle down on the Oa, while Crystal saw a ringtail Hen Harrier. Dave was also commenting on having around 350 Barnies around for the past few days, which is more than normal for the Oa. The other day, Bob had a Kestrel up beside his house, along with a mixed flock of 60 Fieldfare, 20 Redwing and 20 Starling. On the spit on Loch Indaal, he had 12 Dunlin, 7 Ringed Plover and 8 Turnstone. Up at Ardnave Loch, Bob counted 15 Whoopers, 5 Mute Swan, 6 Mallard, 8 Wigeon, 37 Teal, 7 Tufted Duck, 8 Goldeneye and 2 Heron. He then walked from Tayvullin up to Ardnave Point, the birds present were 1 Black throated Diver, 1 Great Northern Diver, 39 Wigeon, 15 Red breasted Merganser, 1 adult Golden Eagle, 5 Buzzard, 50 Oystercatcher, 10 Ringed Plover, 1 Grey Plover, 3 Lapwing, 7 Turnstone, 20 Dunlin, 30 Curlew, 10 Bar tailed Godwit, 14 Redshank, 2 Snipe, 10 Raven, 6 Jackdaw, 22 Chough, 12 Starling, 2 Rock Pipit and a female Snow Bunting. Over on Nave Island, birds seen were 3 Fulmar, 10 Shag, 15 Cormorant, 8 Eider, 30 Herring Gull, 2 Greater black backed Gull, 180 Barnies and 20 Whitefronts. Coming home across the flats at Gruinart, 7 Whitefronts landed on the road in front of his car as he drove along....

Thursday 2nd February

Peter and Pia had been out walking along the head of Loch Indaal this afternoon and saw this Glaucous Gull making the most of a Greater black backed Gull... We too had seen it but did not have the camera to hand plus there was traffic up behind us....

Earlier this week a visitor had a count of 65 Chough up at Ardnave, a Lesser black backed Gull, a Merlin with 18 Whoopers on Ardnave Loch itself. The "vols" from Gruinart had carried out a count round Ardnave Point yesterday. Their totals were, 78 Oystercatcher, 28 Curlew, 42 Ringed Plover, 7 Lapwing, 23 Bar tailed Godwit, 57 Golden Plover, 20 Grey Plover, 5 Buzzard, 1 White tailed Sea Eagle, 5 Great Northern Diver, 15 Sanderling, 4 Shag, 17 Cormorant, 32 Wigeon, 33 Dunlin, 8 Purple Sandpipers, 2 Redshank, 5 Rock Pipits, 8 Ravens, 5 Eider, 4 Red breasted Merganser, 10 Greater black backed Gull, 6 Common Gull, 17 Herring Gull and 23 Hooded Crows. Inland at Ardnave 40 Lapwing were counted, with a large number of Lapwings present on the Gruinart flats.

Today on the lochans at Rockside road end, 3 Goldeneye were present and in a field down towards Uiskentuie, there was a mixed "flock" of Barnacle Geese and Oystercatchers together, a sight I do not recall before. There was a Raven at the road side too, boy was he big when close at hand! James had an Iceland Gull at Bruichladdich today, and also 2 Glaucous and another Iceland on the reserve at Gruinart.

Tuesday 1st February

Yesterday Peter had been down towards Ardtalla on Islay's South East coast looking for any white winged Gulls, but no joy. But, he had better fortune while scanning though a mixed flock of Greylags and Greenland Whitefronts, Peter had 3 Tiaga Bean Geese.
Last night was the monthly meet of our bird nerds here on Islay, so for a change 15 of us went to Bowmore to the "Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant" for a meal, mind you, there was not much talk about birds, an enjoyable time by all accounts.... We saw 10 Hares seen driving to Bowmore, coming home we had 11 Hares and also a Barn Owl which was sitting on a fence post at the side of the road as we approached "The Hedges" below Sunderland Farm.
Today, Malcolm had 3 Golden Eagles up at Ardnave, there were 2 first year birds soaring over the dunes being mobbed by around 40 Chough, and then there was another Eagle on the ground trying to eat a rabbit but was in turn getting mobbed by Crows and a Raven. On the floods at Gruinart, James had an immature White tailed Sea Eagle chasing after the ducks, but it gave up in the end and flew over to Craigens to annoy the geese over there.

Tuesday 31st January

Another month almost away, wonder where the rainfall will be? The fields are definitely in some state. Going across one of our fields today, there was surface water in places where I thought there should not be any, and that was with no rain of late!!! This morning George had 14 Greylags on his ponds, along with 6 Mallard, 1 Heron and a Moorhen. on the fields behind the ponds were 400 Barnies and also 2 Pale bellied Brent Geese.

Monday 30th January

It was good to read Armin's comment at the foot of yesterday's entry, where he says that he had seen Red Kites, a Magpie and 2 Coots whilst he was out along the canal path. Red Kites and Magpies are not seen that often here on Islay let alone a Coot!

On to today's birds... we were out for a couple of hours just after lunchtime...Over at Coull, the Iceland Gull was still present while a Reed Bunting was on the road side after the Coastguard cottages, a Peregrine was seen at Ballinaby, also there were 2 Chough. On Ardnave Loch, 15 Whooper Swan, 2 Mute Swan, 5 Wigeon and a few Goldeneye. On the fields there were 30 Oystercatcher and 4 Common Gulls. On the other side of Loch Gruinart, with tide being kind to us, there was plenty to see, Wigeon, Mallard, Shelduck, Turnstone, Redshank, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Curlew, more Oystercatchers, Hooded Crow, Raven. The weather was cold, so I was lazy and did not even think to count. Back down on the flats at the head of the loch on the reserve, the Glaucous Gull was added. One thing that was interesting to note was that the Geese appear to be in places this year in January where they are not normally seen. Many of the fields where the geese are normally, there have been badly poached already, the geese in several places today were on the verges of the roads where the grass looks plentiful and green too....