Thursday 10 November

 

A cheery image of a pheasant from Neil McMahons collection. Thank you Neil.

Not much reports today, but what there was was worth it!

Mark Lewis got the 1pm ferry from Kennacraig to Islay and reported a  Leach's Petrel and a juv Pomarine Skua out in the sound.

Mike's tallys for the day: At Gruinart first thing 6 Brent Geese,  2 WTE,  a hen harrier and the marsh harrier  plus 130 redwing. A walk in Bridgend Woods found a grey wagtail, 5 goldcrest, a treecreeper and 5 siskin among the selection of wee birds. At Bridgend 3 WTE, a hen harrier Borichill Mor and a peregrine Cnoc Don Mor. Back at Gruinart a pink-footed goose with whitefronts, now 13 black-tailed godwit, still 6 gadwall, and 61 pintail and 48 shoveler both the best totals I've had over the last 10 days.

Thanks for all for todays sightings.

Mary

Friday 30th October

Ed Hutchings who had been over this week with a group from Wildlife Worldwide sent me, this list of best birds seen by themselves:

Monday 26^th

A pair of Golden Eagle at Loch Finlaggan late afternoon. Lots of Whooper Swan on the merse at Bridgend at dusk.

 

Tuesday 27^th

Loch Gruinart: Both male and ringtail Hen Harrier from the south hide in the morning. Lots of Goldcrests in woodland and scrub between hides and centre. Migrants?

 

Wednesday 28^th

The Oa in the early morning was very quiet, save a pair of White-tailed Eagle over moorland.

Kilnaughton Bay at late morning held 2 Great Northern Divers, a Black-throated Diver, a first winter Razorbill and 6 Chough on beach at western end. Leach’s Petrel off lighthouse at noon heading southwest.12 Ringed Plover on beach at Port Ellen.

Several Swallow heading west at Kildalton Cross early afternoon!

 

Thursday 29^th

Merlin on post near Machrie Hotel early morning. Slavonian Grebe on Loch Indaal between Bowmore and Bridgend. No sign of Rosy Starling despite several passes!

Another filthy afternoon at Loch Gruinart, but a Yellow-browed Warbler was calling in woodland, as well as Lesser Redpoll near hides car park.

Some sightings through from Mike Bell, all seen yesterday morning, before it got away too wet...

Loch Gorm: Pochard 2 drakes

Bowmore shore: RTD 2,  GND 6, Slav Grebe 4, Pbb Geese 71, Eider only 1, Common Scoter 9, Long t duck at least 6 (3 drakes), RBM 32, Ringed Plover 13, Knot 27, Barwit 17, Tystie 1.

Whin Park: WTE 1 imm. up in the rain

Smelly corner: Shelduck 17

Gary, first thing this morning, counted 34 Whooper Swans down on the merse at Bridgend and shortly after that he had a count of 76 P bb Geese along at Gartmain.

Peter and Lesley had seen the American Wigeon on Loch Skerrols today.

Thursday 20th September

Yesterday evening, Distillery Dave had seen a female Wheatear fliting along the road in the car headlights over at Saligo Bay.

Today, David Wood had seen a Leach's Petrel off Lower Killeyan on the Oa. James How had seen a Peregrine on the reserve at Gruinart with Louise spotting her "regular" Peregrine on top of a telegraph pole below her house on Jura. Back on Gruinart, James Butcher had 9 Pintail, possibly the first sighting of the Autumn. Bob, this morning, had seen a large charm of over 300 Goldfinch round at Ballinaby. He also saw 10 Mipits there as well. Also seen at Ballinaby, 50 Skylarks as well as 4 Stonechats.

Obviously a much better day for birdwatching, with an "almost" dry day, and yes the wind had dropped considerably as well!!!

Friday 27th October

Lee Thickett saw a Basking Shark on the Sound of Islay, North of Bunnahabhain back on Tuesday, also on Tuesday, Ian and Linda Brockbank had 2 Yellowhammers over at Kintra. On Wednesday, Lee saw  3 Greenshank on Loch Gruinart and yesterday he saw a BTD and also a Leach's Petrel close in , up at Sanaigmore. Today, Alan Harris had seen 2 Golden Eagles while down on the Oa. James had carried out a count on the reserve at Gruinart, (less the Barnies...) his tally came to 630 Whitefronts, 28 Brent Geese, 8 Whoopers, a Pinkie, 2 Ruff, 4 Blackwit, 1,555 Golden Plover,109 Redwing at Gruinart with a further 80 over at Craigens, 4 Fieldfare and 2 Moorhen. Mark covered Loch Gruinart itself, seeing a Ruff, a Dabchick, 6 Blackwit, 5 Whoopers, 60 Golden Plover, a Peregrine, a Fieldfare, 3 Redwing, 40 Twite and also 5 Snipe. Mike and Elspeth had walked though Ballygrant Woods along to Loch Allan seeing mixed Tit flocks and at least 2 Goldcrest. On Loch Ballygrant itself, 2 Mutes, 10 Whoopers, 14 Tufties and 4 Mallard were seen while over the fields, a Peregrine was spotted. Out from the "Glen road" they had a Golden Eagle and also a male Hen Harrier.  This morning Mike Peacock had 6 Slav Grebes, 28 Scaup and also 2 BTD. Off Port Charlotte, out on Loch Indaal this afternoon, Mike had 38 Common Scoter, a Velvet Scoter, 15 GND, 5 RTD, a BTD and also 14 Eider. Finally, Mike had a Merlin on the shore, in front of his house, chasing starlings. Peter and Jane headed off today, but saw a female Merlin fly over the stern of the ferry as they crossed over to Kennacraig. Graham and Jo had been over on Jura today, seeing a Golden Eagle close to Feolin, another along the road after Jura House, some R b Merganser along from Craighouse as well as some Buzzards on their way through Jura. Returning back to Craighouse they saw another Golden Eagle and then shortly afterwards while waiting on the ferry at Feolin a White tailed Eagle was seen over the Sound of Islay, another Golden Eagle was seen out from Ballygrant. Here at home, Margaret spotted a Golden Eagle soaring high up over the crag and later on 3 Buzzard were seen dodging along.. George E Jackson had another successful day catching a ringing some more wee birds with a further 35 birds fitted with BTO rings, and also 2 retraps, one from yesterday, the other  being one that George rung here back on the 2nd of January... Keep up the good work George... apart from the usual bird that have been rung, George managed to fit a ring on 3 Starlings and also a Robin... Almost forgot, the cheeky, local ringtail flew past close and had a peek at us ringing the wee birds, and no, it did not fly into our "mist nets". Several small groups of Whoopers were seen heading out to Ireland, the largest being 12 Swans in total around 5.30pm

Mind the Bird nerds meeting on Tuesday evening at 7pm at the visitor centre at Gruinart, when Ed will give us an update on his work with the Whitefronts

Thursday 12th November

Rather blustery out here on Islay today, with gusts up to 60mph recorded and the power is still on, so you will get an entry from me tonight! Yesterday, Armin had seen a Buzzard sitting on the top of one of the chimney pots on the cottage round at Saligo. Further on up at Ardnave, on the loch there were only around 20 Swans seen, so it backs up the sightings yesterday of Swans flying out in groups. Bob had seen another 2 groups mid afternoon flying down Loch Indaal. Lesley Silcock, a returning birder to Islay and now resident down at Port Ellen had seen 2 groups of Whoopers fly out over Kilnaughton Bay yesterday morning. Also yesterday, over the dunes Armin had 15 Chough flying, and this afternoon, he had an Otter swimming in the sea at Carraig Fhada lighthouse at Port Ellen. Mike Peacock had a Leach's Storm Petrel battling against the storm as it flew down Loch Indaal, less than 10 metres from his living room window around 9am this morning. Mid morning Lesley had seen a possible Dotterel at the head of Loch Indaal.

Friday 23rd October

Yesterday was Graham and Jo Morton's last full day on Islay. They had taken in the walk through Ballygrant woods and along towards the Lily Loch. In the woods, they saw a few Chaffinches, 2 Treecreepers, some Coal Tits, a Goldcrest and a Redwing. On Ballygrant Loch, 2 Mute Swans and 2 Dabchicks were present while along at Loch nan Cadhan, a further 2 Mutes were seen along with 40 Greenland Whitefronts. Overhead, 25 Fieldfare, a Raven and a total of 4 Buzzard were seen. Today, they headed home as did Wally and Jude who had seen 96species during the past 10 days. Thanks to you all for your sightings, it is what makes the blog tick... Yesterday, James carried out a Goose count at Gruinart with the tally coming through at 24,330 Barnies, 140 Greenland Whitefronts, 78 Greylags, 14 Pale bellied Brent, a Canada hutchinsii sp, 10 Whoopers, 2 Hen Harriers and 2 Sparrowhawks. Visitor Stephen Kirkup from Sutherland is over for a few days and is amazed with the sight of birds everywhere, especially the geese! He had seen both male and female Hen Harrier, South of Ballygrant and also 30 Brent Geese on Loch Indaal. The Green winged Teal was seen out from the new hide this morning by Roger Broad, Gary had a Leach's Storm Petrel at the top end of Loch Indaal, flying along towards the coal yard from the Uiskentuie end. We saw a ringtail Hen Harrier out on the wing, hawking over the ground as we headed out around midday.

Tuesday 6th September

Forgot to mention last night that Carl had been up at Gortantoaid on Sunday and had seen 25 Sanderling, a Stonechat and a Barn Owl. Today, as forecast it has been windy with the odd squally shower thrown in for good measure, it may have put some of us off, but not so for Jim Dickson who ventured out to do some sea watching down at Frenchman's Rocks. Jim had 7 Leach's Petrels, 3 Storm Petrels, 3 Bonxies, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 380 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Arctic Terns, 1 Whimbrel and 5 Purple Sandpipers. Earlier on Jim had seen a Merlin fly across the road in front of him as he drove out of Bowmore.

Fri 5th November

One of the many Redwings that were seen today here on Islay. Mary was telling me this morning that were even more Redwing to be seen at Portnahaven this morning. Malcolm had been goose counting down on the Oa and over towards Ardtalla and commented on seeing large flocks there too, but only a few Fieldfares.

RAFOS had turned up Waxwing today at Ballygrant, Ringed Plover on Loch Indaal along with Turnstone, a few Crossbill at Avonvoggie too. There also had been 2 Waxwing at Bowmore, and a further 3 at Port Ellen. There also had a Canada Goose amongst the Barnies at Kintra.

James had a count of 158 Whooper Swans on the reserve at Gruinart this morning, yesterday RAFOS had counted 65 at Gruinart and today there were 2 groups at Rockside, one of 23 and another of 19. Sunderland had 14, and earlier on I saw 17 heading out in the wind towards Ireland, and they had some job ahead!

Dave Beaumont from RSPB came over on the ferry on Wednesday evening as a foot passenger, and when he went to pick up his luggage, a Leach's Petrel was on the deck!

Bob today had 200 Golden Plover at Kilchiran, a flock of 180 Lapwing with a few Golden Plover behind Port Charlotte. He had also seen a Jack Snipe too.