Wednesday 21st December

Yesterday James had done a goose count on the reserve at Gruinart, with the numbers as follows, 4,833 Barnies, 376 Whitefronts, 89 Greylags and 1 Canada hutchinsii sp This morning George had seen 2 White tailed Sea Eagle in the Sound of Islay. Carl had a count of 50 Curlews at Uiskentuie today, with 20 Shelduck at Carnain ("smelly corner" as we sometimes call it!) Carl also seen a Barn Owl there and another at Octofad. Back here at home, there was a pair of Buzzards out over the crag along with a single Peregrine. The other day day, the birds on the feeders moved off quick style as a Sparrowhawk sped through, but did not get anything, although there was some feathers below the feeders this morning when I was putting more food out. You can't win them all!!

Tuesday 20th December

Mary And Crystal carried out a count on Loch Gruinart today, with the scores on the doors as follows, 3 Shag, 1 Heron, 157 Shelduck, 94 Wigeon, 79 Mallard, 1 Eider, 1 Goldeneye, 5 Red breasted Merganser, 41 Shoveler, 14 Pintail, 189 Oystercatcher, 11 Ringed Plover, 12 Grey Plover, 297 Lapwing, 71 Sanderling, 370 Dunlin, 524 Bar tailed Godwit, 166 Curlew, 130 Redshank, 36 Turnstone, 3 Greenshank, 211 Common Gull, 20 Herring Gull, 4 Great Black backed Gull and 1 Common seal. The count for Ardnave Loch was 2 Mute Swan, 9 Whooper Swan, 3 Mallard, 7 Goldeneye, 9 Wigeon and 4 Tufted Duck. James had done a count on the floods at Gruinart yesterday with his highlights being 157 Greylag Geese, 4 Little Grebe, 67 Mallard, 57 Pintail, 77 Wigeon, 4 Gadwall, 1,116 Teal, 19 Shoveler, 3 Greenshank, 800 Lapwing, 58 Golden Plover, 15 Mute Swan and 13 Whooper Swan. The count of Lapwing was a high count according to James. Down on the Oa yesterday David had a Golden Eagle, Merlin, Woodcock and Snipe on the reserve.

Monday 19th December

Back to normal tonight, doing the blog at a more sensible hour of the day.... Mike from Bird Quest had left a message on the phone last night with highlights of their 3 day stay over here, 9 Slavonian Grebes in Loch Indaal off Gortain, a Canada Goose Hutchinsii sp was up the back of Bridgend on Sunday, and also another Canada, Taverner's sp up at Cennacroic on the way to Mulindry. At the head of Loch Indaal, there was a group of 19 Pale bellied Brent with another 8 also seen. A pair of White tailed Sea Eagles were seen over at Killinallan, male Hen Harriers were seen at Loch Gorm, Bunnahabhain and another one at Cennacroic. A ringtail was seen South of Port Charlotte while a Short eared Owl was seen on a fence post in the dark as they were coming up from Portnahaven. A Peregrine was at Gruinart and 4 Greenshank were out the front of the hide. Over at Bunnahabhain, 2 Guillemots and 9 Black Guillemots were seen as well as an Otter! A Tree Sparrow was at Blackrock while along at Loch Gorm, a pair of Chough, a flock of Reed Buntings and 3 Yellowhammers were seen. Today off the ferry as they headed back to Kennacraig their tally read as follows, 60 Kittiwakes,10 Razorbills, 20 Great Northern Divers, half of which were flying West. A Puffin was at the mouth of West Loch Tarbert, while in West Loch Tarbert, 7 Black throated Divers, 10 Red throated Divers. Many thanks for sightings folks. Today on Bob had a small Merlin at home, just the size of a Mistle Thrush . Later on there were several Snipe and Woodcock coming in to feed on the barley stubbles with around 300 Whitefronts coming in to roost. Mary had seen a Water Rail crossing the road at Easter Ellister as she came to work this morning. The figures came through from the team at SNH for the December International Goose count which was carried out last week, the scores on the doors were as follows, 42,595 Barnies and 4,670 Whitefronts. Many thanks for these stats.

Sunday 18th December

Bob had been out over at Gartbreck, down below Bowmore this morning, and had the following count, 25 Mallard, 300 Wigeon, 120 Teal, 1 Goldeneye, 21 Red breasted Merganser, 16 Eider, 4 Shelduck, 4 Mute Swan, 121 Curlew, 45 Oystercatcher, 300 Dunlin, 20 Redshank, 3 Purple Sandpiper, 32 Knot, 90 Bar tailed Godwit, 73 turnstone, 26 Ringed plover, 350 Lapwing, 800 Golden Plover, 2 Grey plover, 1 Cormorant, 57 Shag, 6 Great Northern Diver, 2 Slavonian Grebe, and along at Gartmain 2 Little Stint along with 50 Dunlin. This afternoon here at home, out with birds on the feeders on the back garden was a Brambling. Yesterday Carl had a Merlin at Port Charlotte, and later on 20 Fieldfare were counted up at Octomore. Sorry about the late entry tonight, but more to come tomorrow!

Saturday 17th December

This Snow Bunting was taken by Mary this morning down at Portnahaven, after it had been in for a feed at the bird table. It has been present since the gales last weeks coming in with the Chaffinches to be fed! Mary had a count of over 5,000 Barnacle Geese on the reserve at Gruinart through the week, along with 300 Greenland Whitefronts and 150 Greylags. The leucistic Barnie is still up at Ardnave, over at Killinalan the numbers of geese were not as many but Mary reckons that there has been a juv. Golden Eagle over there! On her way to work, most mornings she has been seeing a Barn Owl out hunting, just she was coming out of Portnahaven. Yesterday, Mary had carried out a farmland bird survey and noticed more Blackbirds around, the largest flock was 13 along with 3 Redwing. Quite a lot of Reed Buntings were seen too, the largest count being 23 at Moulin. Today James had 7 Whoopers at Gruinart, and also 3 different Hen Harriers, 2 females and 1 male. Below the visitor centre there were 14 Long tailed Tits present, as were 4 Red Deer stags. Peter had a Slavonian Grebe in Bowmore Harbour, almost in summer plumage and a further 6 out on Loch Indaal itself. Yesterday Malcolm had a 1st winter Iceland Gull over on Jura.

Friday 16th December

Today down on the Oa, David had seen 2 Hen Harriers, 5 Skylarks, 1 Sparrowhawk and a Mistle Thrush. Earlier this week, he had 4 Golden Eagles, 3 Hen Harriers, 2 Buzzards, 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin, 1 Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel all on the same day on the reserve. Today George had 2 Herons, 1 Moorhen and 4 Mallards on his ponds, out on Loch Indaal a Great Northern Diver was present. On the bird table George had his first Reed Bunting for the winter, 5 Goldfinches, 15 Chaffinches, 4 Great Tit, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Dunnock and yesterday a Coal Tit was present too. At present Bird Quest have a tour over Islay, based at Port Charlotte. Down on the Oa they had a Golden Eagle, around 30 Fulmar were on the sea. Back on land, 5 Snow Buntings were present, along with around 100 Twite, 3 Skylarks and a Great Tit. Down the low road, a ringtail Hen Harrier was noted. 25 Great Northern Diver were counted between Loch Indaal and Port Ellen Bay, and between Bowmore and Bridgend 15 Pale bellied Brent. Over at Bruichladdich, the 8 Purple Sandpipers were still there along with some Ringed Plover.

THursday 15th December

Peter and Pia have returned from their travels, Peter was leading back to back tours to Brazil and on down to Antarctica, and then to come home our recent windy spells..... Over at Bunnahabhain, they had seen 10 Bullfinches in one flock, with an Otter offshore in the Sound of Islay. Back home at Bruichladdich, they counted 8 Purple Sandpipers on the shore. James had a phone call to rescue a Great Northern Diver at Uiskentuie that had got blown off Loch Indaal and was caught in a fence. James came to the rescue and got it out of the fence, he later released the bird up on Loch Gruinart and it swam off none the worse of its' earlier mishap! I was saddened to hear earlier this week that there were only 4 pairs of Hen Harriers that reared young in England this year, questions need to be asked somewhere. Similarly, an egg thief who got a 6 month sentence this week for his collection of over 700 eggs, and it was not his first conviction for egg collecting, but it was the maximum sentence the judge could impose...