Mon 22 - Tuesday 23 Jan..

 A wild spell of weather here: the wildlife are hiding from the worst of it while the humans batten down the hatches and pray for their polytunnels.  It very normal for January to be awful, indeed many roll their eyes at the frequent named storms, however, I find it is easier to remember than the days of the week this time of year.  Behind the wind it is still surprisingly mild, and the grass continues to grow.

At Bowmore Harbour after Isha I watched a drake goldeneye benefitting from the shelter and enjoying a feed.  Before Jocelyn, a ring-tailed hen harrier braved the gusts at Octofad, and a pair of Ravens typically laughed in the face of it all, tumblings and reeling together above Currie Sands.

Morven at Nature Scot kindly sent through last weeks international goose count figures for Islay:

Goose count figures from last week (16/17 Jan):

 

26,527 barnacles

4390 white-fronts

1511 greylags

Friday 24th Feb

 Lots of sighting submitted during the course of the day via the WhatsApp group (Instructions to the right of this post).

Ashley S. was out exploring the Loch Gorm area and reported 5 golden eagles (2 adult pairs and a sub-adult) as well as an adult pair of WTE.  At Craigens they spotted a pale-bellied Brent goose among the barnacles as well as a Russian Whitefront.  En-route there were 3 purple sandpiper at Bruichladdich and the glaucous gull still present at Uiskentui.  

The other highlights on the island include - Dave W. recorded 40 skylark in a flock at Risabus; Chris M. had a flock of over 100 fieldfare overhead between the Uiskentui and Gruinart area, and 17 chough at Kilchoman; Steve reports a great white egret at RSPB floods at Loch Gruinart; Steve W. reported 'lots' of yellowhammers on the pheasant feeders near Kildalton cross.

Off the island, Chris M sent in his sightings from the ferry crossing Port Askaig to Kennacraig. 2WTE at Kennacraig, 7 Slavonian grebe, 24 great northern divers, one red necked grebe, imm Golden Eagle over Jura, and 2cy glaucous gulls.

Thank you for all your sightings, dont forget, photos are equally welcome!

Finally Morven sent through the International Goose Count results - 24,656 barnacles, 5470 whitefronts, and 894 greylags.  

Tuesday 15 March

 

Couple of images of the residents of Loch Skerrols, taken today by Billy.

Nature Scot has been in touch with the last goose count of the season, carried out on the 8th and 9th March.  28,759 barnacles, 5435 white-fronts and 631 greylags.

James was in touch today with his highlights being a gadwall drake from the North Hide, Loch Gruinart, 2 bullfinch on the Woodland Trail and a siskin.  He noted the lesser black backed gulls have been slow to return this year but managed to find 5 at Machir Bay and 1 at Gruinart.  Mark also spotted one near Sanaig, plus a Canada goose.

Steve has been in touch via email. He too was at Gruinart and was treated to a nice view of a hunting ring-tailed hen harrier very close to the hide, and then on their drive back towards Bridgend, a WTE in flight.

Thank you to all for your contributions.

Not much more to add from down the Rhinns.  An other sign of spring with toads spotted out on the roads. A neighbour in Portnahaven even found one in her toilet this morning! It was obviously saved from the flush, but you can't help wondering how on earth it got there in the first place!  I haven't been out to look for wheatear yet, I always think St Patricks day is the day to start looking so hopefully I'll find one then.

Tuesday 18 & Wednesday 19 January

Sorry folks, skipped yesterday due to a failed internet connection. Not to worry, all is back today and I have these stunning images to share with you from Morag Stirling who stumbled across these WTEs on the Big Strand today.

Breathtaking photos, I'm sure you'll all agree.

Yesterday Lauren had 3 little egrets in front of the South Hide, plus 2 male bullfinches on the Woodland Trail.  Later while she was digging nettles to create early corncrake cover, she was entertained by 2 WTE harassing the barnacle geese.   Gary, meanwhile, spotted 2 WTE at one of the regular haunts: the old wreck at the top of Loch Indaal.  Also a kestrel around the wood below Coullabus.

Today was a little quieter with the strong winds but Lauren still located a treecreeper in the woods despite the weather.  While at Claddach I saw a hen harrier in the wind along the coastal edges.

Morven over at Nature Scot sent through this months International Goose Count figures:

"The count was done on the 11^th and 12^th of January with figures of 35,196 barnacles, 6801 white-fronts and 1424 greylags."

Thanks to everyone contributing today.

Wednesday 1 December

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!  A view of a relatively calm Frenchman's Rocks above.  December came in with a blast of wind which did die away as the day went on.  The rocks feature often in the blog as an important vantage of the main migration route of autumn and spring birds.  In the summer they provide an amazing spectacle of hundreds of feeding gannets diving into the fast running waters that race between them and Islay.

Steve Lister found the cackling goose near the RSPB Loch Gruinart visitor centre, and it was later picked up by Chris in the same field. To the west of the reserve, Chris spotted 2 WTE and a male hen harrier hunting.  While he was on the Oa he noted a juv WTE, a ring-tailed hen harrier, and 50 twite, then near Bridgend he found 2 golden eagle showing well.  

Gary reported a greenshank below the power station at Bowmore, and a juv. Iceland gull.  

Mary Anne spotted a kestrel at Laphroig.

Finally, Morven over at Nature Scot kindly shared The International Goose Count figures from 23/24th November: 37,202 barnacles, 6956 white-front geese and 1326 greylag. 

Tuesday 19th January

 

Morven Laurie and her team carried out the International count last week on 12^th and 13^th January. Weather on 13th was very poor but we’ve adopted the following totals: (This only applies to 2021)

 Jan 2021                    Jan 2020                 Jan 2019               Jan 2018

37,364 barnacles             37,495                      35,251                 37,487

5,493 whitefronts              5,588                       6,256                    5,077

637 greylags                        730                           616                       597

OBVOUSLY THE LAST 3 COLUMNS OF GEESE COUNTED ARE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COUNTS CARRIED OUT DURING THE 3 PREVIOUS YEARS

As ever thanks to Morven and her team for sharing the figures with us.

Monday 21st December

Peter e mailed me through.. David Dinsley saw a drake Velvet Scoter at Bruichladdich yesterday. 

Morven Laurie sent the figures through the figures from the International Goose count which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday last week... 32,107 Barnacles, 6,350 white-fronts and 703 greylags. Thanks to Morven and her team from Nature.Scot for these figures.

James sent some birds through seen at Gruinart today as follows.... 2 Hen Harrier & 1 Merlin. Then this evening while looking for the two planets- Jupiter and Saturn, 2 Woodcock   & 1 Jack Snipe were seen. 

Tuesday 3st March

Well that's another month almost past, so tomorrow I will try to tell you the figures for the rain which fell into the various rain gauges round Islay... interesting stuff...

Morven e mailed through this morning to give me the figure for the Greylag geese from the International Goose count carried out the other week. The total came to 690 Geese, and as Morven said, that several of the geese are already paired up.... Thanks again to Morven for the info...

Mandy was back in touch this afternoon, saying that she had seen the Redwing in her garden again today...

Monday 23rd March

Morven sent through the tally from the International Goose Count which was carried out last week. The totals were as follows 33,202 Barnies and also 5,910 Whitefronts. Many thanks to Morven and the team of counters for these figures.

Gary had been out for some messages today and had seen the following birds:

"64 Red Knott, 6 Bar tailed Godwit, 11 Curlew, 54 Oystercatcher at Gartmain, male Hen Harrier at Finlaggan but best of all was this morning 2 Crossbills in tree at giant bird table in the garden."

Friday 20th December

Lesley was out a couple of days back and there must have been approx 250 Lapwing from the North  hide at Gruinart and also watched a flock of 750-800 Golden Plover making fantastic patterns over the head of the loch. They didn't come very close but were entrancing.

Earlier on in the week, Morven and team from SNH carried out the December International Goose count  on the 17th and the 18th. Their tallies came to 32,017 Barnies, 6,325 Whitefronts and also 1,056 Greylags. The count for Dec 2018 came in at 31,623 for the Barnies (+394), 5,843 geese counted for Whitefronts ( +491) with the figure for Greylags was  1,177 (-121). Many thanks as ever to Morven and her team of counters for these figures about the geese, much appreciated...

Mark, today, had seen the following birds at Gruinart, 3 immature  White tailed Eagles creating absolute havoc around the flats and floods, a single Golden Eagle, 2 Woodcock, Barn Owl, Hen Harrier, Little Egret and a Goldcrest as well.

Tuesday 3rd December

Yesterday afternoon, Lesley Silcock had seen 2 White tailed Eagles down past past the tip over at Gartbreck. Visitors, also yesterday, had seen a Snow Bunting down on the Oa, they also saw a Golden Eagle there as well.

Distillery Dave had 2 Golden Eagles out over Rockside yesreday as well... 

Last week was the first of this autumn/Winter count of the International Goose counts with the tally coming to 35,253 Barnies, 5,512 Whitefronts and 1,210 Greylags. The Barnies are up , while both the Whitefronts and Greylags are down on the comparable count last year....  Many thanks to Morven and the team from SNH for providing us with these figures.

Margaret saw a ringtail Hen Harrier fly past the garden this morning.

Thursday 14th March

James had managed to get out from beind his desk over the past few days to do a spot of birding.... better than being desk bound!!! On Tuesday, he had seen a Golden Eagle up at Borichill Mor and also 3 Lbb Gulls, a sure sign that lambing is not that far away!!! Yesterday, James had 3 Greenshank and also a Peregrine on the reserve at Gruinart and also a Merlin was seen over at Kilinallan.

Today, Chris Mills had been out and about leading his group from Norfolk Birding. They had seen 2 juv. Golden Eagles over towards Ballimartin, a flock of over 3,000 Barnies beside Esknish. Later on, they had a Moorhen on the Distillery pond behind Port Charlotte, but no sign today of the Green winged Teal seen there by Mike earlier on this month. Along at Bruichladdich, the 8 Purple Sandpiper were still present.

Andrew Kent e mailed through the figures from the International Goose Count which was carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The totals came to 31,058 Barnies,  6,771 Whitefronts and 775 Greylags. Many thanks to Andrew and his team from SNH for these stats.

Friday 23rd November

Above is an image sent through by Armin. He took it while down for a walk on Machir Bay, please note the geese starting to take off, as well as a blue sky with not a cloud in sight... This afternoon, just past Rockside, Armin had seen a Kestrel. Further along the road, a Buzzard took off from its' telegraph pole on which it had sitting on, with another one doing exactly the same before Armin got much further down the road as well.

Yesterday, just after lunch time, Mark and Sally Johnson had seen 3 White tailed Eagles over the top of Beinn Bheigier from where they were at Claggain Bay. This morning, they had seen a Brambling among the Finches down beside Loch Gorm.

Andrew Kent sent through the results from the International Goose count which was carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The totals were as follows... 30,438 Barnacle Geese, 6,696 Whitefronts and 823 Greylags. Many thanks to Andrew and his team from SNH for these figures.

Friday 23rd March

After a damp start, the weather picked up and what a beautiful sunset to end the day with. Morven kindly sent through the figures for the International goose count carried out here on Islay on Tuesday and Wednesday. The tally came to 34,750 Barnies, 4,422 Whitefronts and 483 Greylags. Many thanks to Morven and the team from SNH for these figures.

I also recently a couple of e mails through from visiting birders who have been over on Islay recently.. Derek Stanyard along with his colleagues have been coming over to Islay for a short 5 day visit normally in February/ March since 2010. This year they had seen 86 species , a few down on previous years but the weather kept them in for one of their days. By the sound of things, it was Derek et al who had seen the Sandwich Tern down on Machir Bay last week.... The other person who sent through an e mail was Philip Cohen from Dundee. Philip was over last weekend from the 16th to 19th March and saw a total of 78 species with another 3 heard but not seen. A great list for only one set of eyes to see in such a short spell, and especially as it was Philip's first visit to Islay, hopefully not your last!!!... So many thanks for your birds to you both, as ever, much appreciated.

The Horwich birders had seen a Black tailed Godwit out from the South hide today.

Thursday 18th January

Malcolm had been out on the Ardtalla and the Oa runs for the International Goose count which has been taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The weather had not been that great with dirty squally showers of hail, sleet and the odd snow shower in the mix as well... Apart from the geese, Malcolm had seen a small Canada Goose at Laphroaig yesterday and a flock of around 40 Golden Plover at Ardtalla, seen on Tuesday and again yesterday... Andrew Kent from SNH sent through the totals of geese counted during the International Goose Count and they came in at 37,487 Barnies, 5,077 Whitefronts and 597 Greylags. Thanks to Andrew and all the team involved.
Today, James had seen a 1st winter glaucous Gull at Blackrock.

Thursday 23rd Novembr

Back on Sunday, Louise had seen a Magpie behind her home at Gatehouse up towards Tarbet on Jura. David Wood on Sunday had seen a Black throated Diver at Kilnaughton Bay, and he had a Cackling Goose at Kinnabus  and a count of 330 Twite and also 4 Brambling seen there as well. Yesterday Mike counted a couple of rafts of GND totalling 131 birds as they were going into the roost off Laggan Point between 15.30 and 16.40 on Loch Indaal. Because of the poor weather on Tuesday, the count for the International Goose count was not carried out, but Andrew Kent sent the figures from Wednesday's tally.. The totals were as follows, 48,336 Barnies, 4,877 Whitefronts and 880 Greylags. Jams had carried out the Gruinart stint, so his count in the total figure came to 16,244 Barnies, 546 Whitefronts, and 29 Greylags. Thanks to Andrew and his team or these numbers. Louise had counted 80 Barnies fly over from Inver on Jura over to Islay this morning. Ed Burrell had a Carrion Crow the other day on the Oa. Ed was saying to me this morning, that he has caught, rung and fitted collars to a further 25 Whitefronts, 5 with transponders, the rest with neck collars. The team from WWT had also fitted neck collars to 24 Greylags as well. Armin had seen the overhead power lines being weighed down by a good number of Rooks along with some Jackdaws, below Carrabus.

Thursday 16th March

Yesterday, James had seen a White tailed Eagle on the floods at Gruinart, also present were  29 Whoopers. Just before that James had a Golden Eagle at Erasaid while up off Nave Island, he saw a couple of Tysties and also 3 GND. David and Jenny yesterday had been down the other end noting a male Hen Harrier and 70 Twite at Kinnabus. David commented on a lack of seabirds out from the American  monument apart from a single Gannet! Jenny had a small flock of 25 Reed Buntings at the car park while David was away walking. They saw a further 15 together near to Ardbeg. This morning, Louise had a large female Golden Eagle as she approached the ferry at Feolin and saw a single Whimbrel on the shore as well.

Andrew Kent sent through the stats for the International Goose count carried out over the past couple of days. The tally came to 41,721 Barnies, 6,141 Greenland Whitefronts and 433 Greylags, many thanks to Andrew and the team from SNH for these figures.

Thursday 15th December

Mike Peacock had seen 5 Yellowhammer in the hedges along at Sunderland Farm this afternoon. Andrew Kent was in touch with the figures in from the International Goose Count, carried out on Monday and Tuesday with the tallies coming through at 45,714 Barnies, 5,585 Whitefronts and 556 Greylags. Thanks to Andrew and the team from SNH for these figures. Michal had done his WeBS count today, and on Ardnave Loch he counted 14 Wigeon, 6 Tufted Duck, 8 Goldeneye, 23 Whooper Swan, 19 Mute Swan, 1 Heron and 5 Mallard. I will give you the rest of Michal's figures from Loch Gruinart itself and also from James with his tally of the floods at Gruinart.

Monday 21st March

Yes, it was an earth tremor last night that was heard here on Islay, some folk heard it, while others did not... Tracey sent through the figure from the International Goose count that was carried outlast week. The tally was 37,166 Barnies and 5,183 Whitefronts. No figure was given for the Greylags, but I will see if we can find these out. Thanks  to Tracey and the team from SNH for these figures

Friday 20th November

Earlier this week the first International Goose Count took place when the whole of Islay is counted on one day and again the following day with the average count being the figure used. So here are the figures for the 17th and 18th November, there were 48,568 Barnies, 4,564 Whitefronts and also 929 Greylags. Thanks to Morven and the team from SNH for the figures. Yesterday Malcolm and Bob headed over to Jura. They had a Peregrine at Feolin, a Sparrowhawk was seen later on with many Buzzards seen on their travels, but not so many geese as on Islay, only 60 Greylags and 3 Whitefronts noted. Mid afternoon today, on their way back from Port Ellen, Gary and Sam saw a rather bedraggled looking Barn Owl, mind you I would have looked a rather sorry sight too as the weather has not been that great with dirty showers of sleet and also some "kid on" snow also.... Before I forget, on Tuesday night, the Islay Bird nerds are holding their monthly meeting at 7.30pm in the Lochside Hotel in Bowmore, so if you are around, you will be made welcome!