Wednesday 9th September

Gary had been out doing a spot of birding earlier on this morning. He saw an Osprey over Loch Indaal at Gartmain when tide was in, on his way to Bowmore. In Bowmore itself, he had a glimpse of the Rosy coloured Starling as it flew by with about 15 starlings. 

Meanwhile Jim Dickson had the following birds seen 7 Curlew Sandpipers and also the Bonaparte's Gull at Gruinart this morning. This afternoon, he spent an hour doing a sea watch down at Frenchman's Rocks where his highlights were 2 Sooties and 3 Bonxies... it was in poor light according to himself...

 

Friday 21st September

The other day, Ron McNab had a count of 50 Manx Shearwater while spending some time doing a sea watch down at Frenchman's Rocks. He also saw 2 Sooty Shearwater and then 2 Arctic Skuas harassing some Kittiwakes. Over at Gruinart, Ron had seen 2 Whooper Swans, possibly the Swans that did not fly away in the Spring. Coming over the hill from Gruinart, Ron had a White tailed Eagle and then a Kestrel while he was driving around Loch Gorm.

Yesterday, as we watched out the windows the Sparrowhawk flew through and over the crop spoofing all the wee birds up, but to no avail, maybe they are all too fat for it...

Today, Gary had seen large numbers of Goldfinch and Redpolls flocking while he was down on the Oa, with a pesky Merlin hunting through the flock. Later on, Gary had seen 2 White tailed Eagles siting on the skerries out from the Dower House.

Thursday 31st August

Many thanks to James for putting the entries on the blog in may absence.. Quite a few entries this evening for you to drool over in envy. Last Saturday, Gary had been out with clients and saw an Osprey out over the Sound of Islay at Bunnahabhain, a Peregrine was present at Kilchoman with good numbers of Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Sanderling  seen down on Machir Bay. Mike Peacock yesterday saw over 200 Dunlin, 150 Ringed Plover, a Greenshank, 4 Red Knot, 41 Barwit, 70 Curlew and 2 Shelduck. David Wood this afternoon had a count of over 400 Manx Shearwater loafing around out from Lower Killeyan on the Oa. Also seen were 2 Sooty Shearwater, 11 Chough and a Sparrowhawk. David Formby had seen a mixed flock of over 50 Linnet and Goldfinch on the game crop at Kilchoman along with a couple of  Stonechats. Good numbers of Swallows and the Starling flock seems to increase every day.... A male Hen Harrier was quartering  over the lochans below Rockside.

Tuesday 23rd August

Well, we are all back to Islay now after a busy time down at the British Bird Fair. 948 folk entered the free draw to come to Islay for a week to see our geese, the cottage being kindly provided by Islay cottages here at Kilchoman with Calmac providing free ferry passage. The winner was Martin Gooch from Braughing Ware in Herts. John Aitchison kindly drew the winning ticket with his young assistant Evie Wood.  Boy, was it was hard work, but surely well worth the effort. There are over 450 exhibitors with 4 lecture venues to whet your appetite.... The weather was possibly overcast with the odd splatter of rain on Friday and Saturday which was good for us as it was more pleasant in the large marquees, plus when it rained the visitors stayed indoors....So many thanks to all our helpers, to our Distilleries and to Walkers shortbread for providing support to our cause to promote Islay as a great place to come, visit and bird watch or even chill out!!!! It was great to catch with old friends down there from all over the world and also the many folk that come to Islay.

On Sunday, Mike Peacock had seen an Osprey at Bun an Uillt. Gary had several Teal and a single Wigeon at Smelly corner and on his way home, late last night, a Barn Owl on the roadside close to Ballygrant. Coming over on the ferry yesterday evening, Bob had seen a Sooty Shearwater along with some Manx Shearwater, Auks, Razobills, Kittiwakes and Gannets. Coming up the Sound of Islay, I personally had never seen so many Red Deer feeding down on the shoreline on Jura.

Saturday 31st August

Yesterday Dave had seen 3 Sooty Shearwater  as well as some Gannets and also Manx Shearwaters as they passed by the Oa. This morning, down at Frenchman's Rocks, Peter and Pia had around 20 Kittiwakes, 1 Great Skua, 210 Manx Shearwaters, 150 Gannets and 46 Fulmars all flying East in an hours sea watching. Earlier this evening, down at Uiskentuie, there was a single Barnacle Goose present amongst all the Gulls. There had been quite a few Gulls present where the freshwater enters the sea this past week. Later on a ringtail Hen Harrier flew over the cottages here at home. Mark round at Rockside has had his combine out this week cutting his barley when the weather still holds good with the baler right up behind the combine. This evening there were a large number of Greylags on the stubble

Monday 1st October

Tom and Jo headed back to the mainland yesterday on the ferry. Before they left, up at Bridgend they had  a sighting of a Turtle Dove. Down at Port Ellen, 21 Whooper Swans were flying South, from the ferry they had good views of a Sooty Shearwater flying alongside. Also seen off the ferry were plenty of Tysties, Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes. They also had a  light phase Arctic Skua. Over their stay they had seen 103 species during their stay. James today had a Peregrine on the salt marsh at Gruinart, Bob had one at his home, along with 35 Lapwing. Bob has seen the continued passage of Skylarks still moving through over the past few days, his biggest flock was a count of 70 birds. Bob also counted 25 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Gartmain. Rockside had 23 Whoopers and of 6 were still at Coull, coming up through the dunes at lunchtime, there was mixed flock of over 40 Twite and 6 Goldfinches.

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.

Thurs 28th Aug

Last Sunday, Andy Schofield had a stint of sea watching, and over a 5+ hour spell he had a passage of 10,000+ Manx Shearwater flying south west to possibly Ireland after returning from a feeding foray into Scottish waters! There were also 3 Sooty Shearwater observed at the same time, all off the south east coast of Islay.

Yesterday, Andy saw a second year Mediterrean Gull at Gruinart, the first for the RSPB reserve, and only the third record for Islay. This afternoon, down at Carnain, he saw an adult Osprey fly over from the head of Loch Indaal, and it continued to fly inland. Is this still the same bird that has been seen quite often over the summer? Also at Carnain, with tide being fairly close in, were numerous waders including Dulin, Knot and Sanderling. There is now one Dunlin less than before, as a Sparrowhawk was seen taking one! Andy also had a further 2 Sparrowhawk at different locations through the day, today.

Finally, Andy has been seeing Crossbills over the last few weeks, over 200+ since mid July. Andy thinks that they are not the same birds, as the group size is not always the same, varying from 3 up to over a dozen, the make up is different too, relating to the adult birds to juveniles and finally their flight pattern varies, some high fliers, and others lower fliers and others on trees too. He was also saying that a visitor had told him of seeing 3 Otters all in the same bay, possibly a family group. RAS

Mon 28th July

This image of a Golden Ringed Dragonfly was taken this afternoon as we were out for a short walk in the sweltering heat along the banks of the River Sorn! We were also fortunate to see a Kingfisher briefly as it flew past. IKB

A visitor reported into the Islay Natural History Trust today to say that they had just seen 2 Harbour Porpoises off the peir at Port Charlotte.

In the evening, last night Andy had been out to the Irish Otter Reef which is about 2 - 3 miles off the Oa, and had seen 2 Sooty Shearwater, 20 Storm Petrel, 3 Pomarine Skua, 4 Bonxies and over 4,000 Manx Shearwater. Back on land, down at The American Monument on the Oa, his son, Luke saw 2 Peregrine this morning. RAS