Saturday 14th, Sunday 15th, Monday 16th & Tuesday 17th December

Thanks to Malcolm for blogging in my absence, though in the last few days there has been nothing to blog about - hence the 4 day gap during variable, typically winter weather. Just one posting today - from Mary R. who saw a Pink-footed Goose, though I'm not sure where.

 Thursday 12th and Friday 13th December

Quiet overcast weather rather than the sunshine that was promised for most of this week but only happened on Monday. The first rain for the week arrived this afternoon.

Yesterday, Gary T found the Cackling Goose at Leorin in the Barnacle Goose flock that moves regularly between there and the Cornabus/Ballivicar/Kintra area. He took this photograph of it just before the flock was spooked by a young White-tailed Eagle. Later on, he found the Kingfisher that seems to have taken up residence in the Bridgend merse area. Mary R saw a Kestrel on the way to Tormisdale and commented that this is a really reliable area to see one.

Today, Mary saw a Little Egret at Crosshouses, 4 Chough at Octofad, and a White-tailed Eagle flying over Claddach. Then, in the afternoon, James H reported a Green-winged Teal seen from the South Hide at Gruinart and a Gadwall from the North Hide. Green-winged Teal appear at Gruinart almost every winter, frequently staying for weeks or even months.

 

 

 Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th December

Ed B is the only observer to have sent in a report in the last two days. This morning he had a flock of 66 Lapwing at Cornabus, while the Cackling Goose was still present in the area. Ed commented that this was a good number of Lapwing for the time of year. I was out looking at geese around Skerrols on Monday and noticed two flocks of Lapwings, numbering 20-25, and remembered the time not all that long ago when wintering Lapwing were quite scarce, disappearing in November and not reappearing until mid-February. Along with the Lapwings were larger numbers (40-50) of Golden Plovers. This species has definitely increased as a wintering species on Islay, with a pretty steady rise in numbers from the 1980s when there were several hundred to the last decade when up to 2000 are wintering here, exceptionally 3000.

I've found a Gordon Langsbury photograph showing both species of interest. I don't think finding the solitary Lapwing will be too difficult.

 

 Saturday 7th, Sunday 8th and Monday 9th December

As was to be expected, no bird records were submitted on Saturday after Storm Darragh had deposited just over an inch of rain on Friday night (all right, 26 mm if you insist), and then blew from the north at force 8 throughout the day with frequent gusts reaching over 60 mph. We were fortunate to be north of the centre of the low pressure system judging by the reports of 90+ mph in north and south Wales. Sunday was a lot better, if still breezy, then today was sunny and wonderfully calm after a sharp overnight frost.

On Sunday, Clive McKay reported that, during the northerly wind of the day before, a total of 398 Kittiwakes flew N back out of the loch in 3.5 hours of observation, after U-turning/sheltering at the head of the loch. No other reports were received on Sunday, but things picked up on Monday morning, with Clive seeing 37 Fieldfares heading N over Creag Mhor, Gruinart, and wondered if this was a cold weather movement. Gary T had his first Reed Buntings and a Yellowhammer at his bird table a little north of Ballygrant, before he headed out and saw Common Scoter, Long tailed Duck and Red breasted Merganser close in to the layby at Blackrock. The Cackling Goose was seen again by Ed, this time at Ballivicar. I was out with Morven Laurie (NatureScot) this morning ageing geese near Bridgend, and she read a Whitefront neck collar, V8Z, which was caught near Port Ellen in February 2024. It wasn't seen again that winter so it's very good to get a sighting in a new area.

 Wednesday 4th, Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December

Wednesday and Thursday were OK weatherwise, bit of wind, bit of rain, but Storm Darragh is gaining strength this Friday evening, having blown from the south-east this afternoon before it will abruptly switch to the north overnight and blow even harder tomorrow. It's raining at the moment, while it's supposed to be more showery tomorrow.

All of which lengthy preamble indicates that there's been precious little bird news these last three days, with no reports on Wednesday while, yesterday, Mary R provided the only sightings, of 6 Chough at Octofad and a Merlin at Gortan. Today, Ed B confirmed the continued presence of the Cackling Goose at Cornabus while the leucistic Barnacle Goose had moved the short distance to Kintra. Jim Dickson, Argyll Bird Recorder, was in contact to suggest we should look out for a Ross's Goose which was present with Greylags in south Kintyre this morning, having probably moved there from Ayrshire. The next movement westwards would, of course, bring it to Islay. Not the hardest bird to pick out from a flock of other geese.

Stay safe in the storm. 

 

 Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd December

A coldish wind, but dry until late afternoon when there was some rain.

Undoubted bird of the day, and the month (so far), was a Great White Egret seen, and filmed, at Kinnabus by David D. I've not tried adding video to the blog before, so, if you can't see anything below, I failed. Another good bird was a leucistic first-winter Barnacle Goose seen by Ed B. at Cornabus. Such birds turn up just occasionally and, if my memory serves me right, which isn't guaranteed, require both parents to have a recessive gene.

Other sightings include a female Hen Harrier south of the airport seen by Steve Rogers, the Cackling Goose still at Cornabus, reported by Ed at Cormabus, both today, and a Barn Owl with unusual white wings and tail flying through Clive's garden yesterday.

 

 Sunday 1st December

An overcast morning, brightening a little by midday, and mild. Not a lot to report today, but David D. had a Lesser Black-backed Gull in the gull roost at Cornabus, a migrant species which is very unusual here from about November to February. It breeds here in summer but recently in much reduced numbers, just 28 pairs were found in the last seabird count in 2018/19, compared with 184 pairs in 2000 and no less than 740 pairs in 1986/87, which only covered the main colonies.  The reason for this dramatic decline appears to lie elsewhere, not on Islay.

I joined Clive McKay during the morning, ageing geese in the Gruinart area, finding 91 young in 1008 Barnacles (9.0%) and 7 in 172 Whitefronts (4.0%). The 7 were made up of a brood of 5 and two broods of 1. It's interesting that, in what is a poor breeding year, a few pairs nevertheless do well, remembering that Ed Burrell had a brood of 6 at Cornabus back in October. In a good breeding year there can be a few broods of 7, while the maximum for the Barnacle is 4.

Here are two family photos to show what we were looking for. Ageing Barnacle Geese is all about the wing coverts, the adults' being neat and parallel, the young much less so. Young Whitefronts have no black belly bars, unlike the adults, but gradually acquire the white "front" through the winter.