Saturday 21st, Sunday 22nd & Monday 23rd September

Glorious sunny, warm days and cool nights with clear skies and calm conditions. The weather just beginning to cloud over and go back to autumn towards the afternoon of Sunday, with a more overcast Monday. All in all, fantastic weather for Islay's annual Lagavulin Jazz Festival, which kept me from writing the blog each night.

One of the Jazz performances was at the RSPB Visitor Centre on Saturday, where Linden did a pre-concert bird walk for the Jazz-goers. No sooner had he set out, a couple of Great White Egrets were spotted on the floods which he called me over to see. This of course supports further, the extraordinary sight of 13 Egrets seen yesterday as being Great Whites too (apart from Clive Mc. being perfectly confident of his ID and an experienced observer having seen plenty of the species before). There have also been seemingly unprecedented numbers showing up elsewhere in UK, with a flock of 41 at Spurn, Yorkshire recently and 8 near Wick in the far north of mainland Scotland and 1 on Luing just north of us on Sunday. There have only been 9-10 previous Islay records, the first in 1986, all of single birds, so both these sightings are very noteworthy.

Other Saturday news was of Wheatears, quite likely migrants, popping up here and there, Mary Redman seeing one at Claddach and noting a flock of 50+ Meadow Pipits there on Sunday along with a Kestrel and 2 Hen Harriers.

Today there are notes from David Dinsley of the Moorhen still at Loch Cornabus along with 20 Wigeon and 94 Teal and from Mary R. at Claddach of Wheatears, Hen Harriers and a surprising lack of House Sparrows despite the barley harvest being in full swing and tractors by the dozen going back and forth with trailer loads of barley spilling onto the roads. I've noticed small groups of sparrows dotted along the road from Bridgend to Port Charlotte wherever there is a bend and the barley most likely to spill. Malcolm O. counted c.50 near in the road at Port Charlotte recently and Mary commented that the Collared Doves are feasting on spilt grain at the drying depot at Octofad.