Saturday 6th February

Well the number of Goldfinches has increased, not a lot, but upwards to number 4, also seen was a female Chaffinch with a BTO ring on its' leg. The weather has not been that great again for seeing many birds around...

Apart from watching the tail end of the rugby on the TV and then the program which I plugged, not a lot happening out here today... 

Saturday 24th December

Peter has been in touch to say that he has been out looking for the Gyrfalcon, but no joy, see these fair weather birds... Instead, he had a Carrion Crow at Sunderland Farm, either the third or fourth that Peter has seen on Islay. Also at Sunderland Farm, a flock of over 140 Chaffinch was present. By the way, the weather is not much better out here in the Scottish Borders.
Have a great Xmas day folks wherever you are, enjoy your day.

Monday 25th November

Whilst gathering sheep on the hills of the Oa today we saw 2 Golden Eagles, 3 Woodcock, 5 Snipe, and a female type Hen Harrier. Some counts from the Oa from last Friday included 427 Twite, 51 Chaffinch, 54 Golden Plover and a Grey Wagtail.
Today, Pete had seen a Water Rail well when flushed from a ditch at Bolsa Track near Port Charlotte. The saga in his garden continues with a very bold rook flying off with the food he put out for the Blackcap yesterday. Undaunted he has crushed another one of his fat balls and put that in a more sheltered spot in the garden in the hope that smaller birds may find it more accessible......

Tuesday 8th February

Happy birthday Ken, out on the mainland, now you have reached the big 60...

Catherine was on the phone earlier to say that the Tree Sparrow is still present down on the RSPB reserve on the Oa. The large flock of Twite has now split into several groups of up to 200, still a lot of lbjs.... There have also been a few groups of Chaffinches again to 200 birds which good to hear.

Back here at home this morning, I saw a Raven carrying in some nesting material to its' nest up the gully.

Tuesday 25th January

The other day, Bob had a flock of around 1,000 Chaffinches down at Gartbreck, just outside of Bowmore. Yesterday David Formby, our local dentist had a Long tailed Tit in his garden while today James had a count of 272 Shelduck at the head of Loch Gruinart. All I could offer today was seeing a Sparrowhawk, flying right past the house and further out up and way out over the gully was a Peregrine.

Tues 23rd Feb

These 7 Whooper Swan were caught on camera by friends who took the image round at Ballinaby today. The question then is, are these the same 7 that James had at Gruinart yesterday?

Our friends also had seen 29 Pale bellied Brent Geese on Loch Indaal, a flock of between 150 - 200 Twite down on the Oa and also 50 Chaffinch at Ardbeg.

Wed 14th Oct

Another day in, and James had been busy counting the geese again on the reserve at Gruinart along with one or two other birds thrown in. His totals are as follows, 25,240 Barnacle Geese, 16 Whitefronts, 2 Canada Geese hutchinsii, 1 Pink footed Goose, 2 Pale bellied Brent Geese, 24 Greylags, 1 Peregrine Falcon and a single Ruff.

George had a flock of 30 Golden Plover on his way round Loch Gorm, while at home he had 20 Snipe on his pools.

Visiting birders reported to saw that they had seen a Swallow over at Ardbeg on Monday, and 80 Whitefronts at Rockside yesterday afternoon. Other birders had spotted a female Chaffinch over at the cottages this morning, with a metal ring on one of it's legs, so where has that one come from? They had also seen 17 feral goats along at the Radar masts at Kilchiaran. I forgot to mention of seeing a white duck down at the head of Loch Indaal yesterday, close to where there was one seen last winter. It was seen along with some Mallards, so could it be last year's bird, is it an albino, or possibly an escaped farmyard duck?