Wednesday 24th October

An early entry for the blog for once! The Leigh birders had split into 2 groups yesterday, David and Anne stayed here on Islay. At Blackrock they had 6 GND, 4 RTD, also 5 Slavonian Grebe, 7 Red breasted Merganser and 23 Eider. Down at Machir Bay they had 16 Chough, and on the "new pool" there, a mixed flock of Herring and Common Gulls, around 200 in all. From there, they also saw  4 Buzzards out, and 3 Stonechats. On Machir Bay itself they had a Greater Black backed Gull along with Oystercatcher and Sanderling.  A large flock of Barnies were in the air over towards Coull Point. Round Loch Gorm they had 5 Golden Plover, 12 Reed Bunting, c200 Starling, many hundreds of Barnies, 90 Greylag and 65 Whitefronts. A male Hen Harrier was seen and then chased on by a gang of Hooded Crows! Pauline and Ian headed back to Jura, towards Ardfin they had a Coal Tit, Wren, Dunnock, Great Tit, Blue Tit and heard 2 Buzzards calling. A pr of Treecreepers were also seen there. Further on the Rowan berries more Redwings and Fieldfares were noted as well as a further 2 Blue Tits. Up past Craighouse they had 2 Goldcrest, and then more Redwing , Blackbirds and 2 Mistle Thrush on the scrubland. A ringtail Hen Harrier was seen over the moor and then a sub adult Golden Eagle close to the road. A Reed Bunting was calling close to one of the cattle grids and a Wren and also another Stonechat seen there as well. Finally up the top end of Jura, they heard a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Another good day but still missing is an Otter...Danny and his team seen 2 Golden Eagles up towards Sanaigmore today, down in Sanaigmore Bay were 2 GND. At the top of Loch Indaal, they saw 4 RTD, 8 Red breasted Merganser and 2 Cormorants that were actively fishing away. Jura was the destination for the Bolton birders today, before lunch they had a male Hen Harrier on the moor above Lowlandman's Bay and a ringtail later on in the afternoon in the same location. They had another ringtail over the woodland up at Ardlussa, in the bay past Ardlussa, an Otter was seen briefly with 5 Stonechats at Lealt. A charm of 12 Goldfinches were noted on the felled plantation. A large flock of over 700 Fieldfare was seen moving through along with some Redwing and Mistle Thrush. Back on Loch Indaal, on the Bridgend side of Blackrock, 4 Slavonian Grebe were with a large raft of Scaup and a female Goldeneye.