Wednesday 12th February 2025

Still a bit cold and overcast with a persistent easterly wind. The day started with yet more geese, with 13 Pale-bellied Brents (just 1 first-winter) seen at Blackrock by Nick Parsons, quickly followed by him spotting 2 Russian White-fronted Geese at Gruinart. These turn up fairly regularly having strayed north from the flocks that winter in southern England. Chris Mills was back at Ardnave watching 2 White-tailed Eagles  and an immature Golden Eagle showing well just short of Ardnave Loch, while, at Ardnave Point, he saw 2 Purple Sandpipers, 4 Grey Plovers and  3 Choughs, with a further 14 Choughs in the dunes.

Some collared Greenland Whitefronts were reported from different places, including one ringed at Loch Ken, Wigtonshire, back in 2008-9, which turned up here two years later and has been regularly wintering on Islay ever since.

Clive McK had a count of 177 Shelduck on Gruinart estuary in good counting light, while Henry Wyn-Jones saw what he described as the smaller of the two Cackling Geese at Kinnabus, and Chris Mills had a male Merlin on the south side of Loch Gorm, as well as 20 Skylarks and 12 Reed Buntings on barley stubble, later passing on a sighting by someone else of 100+ Skylarks on the Gruinart flats. The sighting of two Greenfinches in Port Ellen by Tony Parsons is sadly of an increasingly rare bird here. Finally, a Barn Owl was seen on The Oa by Nick Parsons and another between Bridgend and Bowmore by Chris Mills. Our best estimate is that there are about 25 pairs on the island, which have been helped over the years by the number of of ruined cottages and farm buildings.

Today's cracking photo is of a Russian White-fronted Goose seen and photographed by Joe Graham at Killinallan on 9th February and quite probably different from the two at Gruinart this morning.