Wednesday 14th January

Today's weather grew increasingly blustery and rainy from late morning onwards, so no records of any birds came through.

A bit of news from James H. for yesterday (13th) mentions 2 White-tailed Eagles at Loch Gruinart, 2 Golden Eagles and another White-tailed Eagle on the other side of Gruinart at Killinallan, and a further one of each up at Ardnave. James also located the elusive Red-breasted Goose at Gruinart along with a Water Rail.

Having asked about Chaffinches at other folk's bird feeders I had a note from Malcolm O. just up the road from me in Bruichladdich saying he is regularly seeing 15-18 in his garden - about 10 more than in recent winters. He also lamented the decline in Greenfinches: he used to have 3 pairs nesting in the garden.

Billy Stitchell sent in the following count from his garden and feeders at Caol Ila for yesterday: Chaffinch c.40-50 plus 4 Blue Tits, 6 Coal Tits, 5 Great Tits, 1 Siskin and 3 Greenfinches, 1 Treecreeper, 10 Blackbirds, 1 Bullfinch, 4 Collared Doves, c.10 Dunnocks.

He also commented: "I usually chop the Buddleia and Chinese Honeysuckle back at the end of the year, but not last year due to the weather. I hadn’t realised the Sparrows love the seeds, the branches were buckling under their weight and the noise! Same with the Honeysuckle; that’s what attracts the Bullfinch"

Saturday 10th January to Tuesday 13th January

 Very little to report on the bird front over the past few days. Weather has ameliorated from the colder conditions of last week into something more typical of an Islay winter - milder, quickly changing between clouds and rain and sunnier spells with mostly moderate winds.

Daavid D. noted a Merlin at Sanaigmore on Saturday. Yesterday (12th) Gary T. had a pair of Choughs out at Finlaggan and Steve & Lyn Rogers noted 2 White-tailed Eagles and a Kestrel over their garden at Kilnaughton. Also yesterday, Martin Armstrong had a Yellowhammer near the Round Church at Bowmore. Today David D. reports that the small Canada Goose was present at Kinnabus.

Mary Ann Featherstone sent in a couple of photos of some colourful, regular species in her garden at Kildalton to brighten up the blog.

Here at Bruichladdich I had a count of 7 Greenfinches on the feeders and there are 35-45 Chaffinches on my bird-feeders each day. It would be interesting to have counts of Chaffinches from other feeders.

Friday 9th January

While other large areas of the country experienced strong winds and snow, it was a calm, and at times sunny day here - though temperatures almost at freezing point at times.

Clive McK. reported a White-tailed Eagle predating a Barnacle Goose on Loch Gruinart and Ed B. saw the parvipes Canada Goose again at Cornabus. Gary T. watched a lone Brambling among a flock of c.50 Chaffinches at Crosshouses and I took advantage of the flat calm waters of Loch Indaal to check birds off Blackrock. There was the usual good selection of Eiders and Red-breasted Mergansers with counts of 22 Red-throated divers, 16 Long-tailed Ducks, 14 Slavonian Grebes and c.45 Common Scoter.

Monday 5th to Thursday 8th January

 Don't worry! The blog is still going, but there have been no notified sightings for days as the weather has presumably convinced people not to venture far from home. The weather has been variable - some very light snow and cold/icy conditions, giving way today to much milder weather with the snow melted. Winds have been at worst "breezy" and nothing like the awful weather being experienced further south in the UK - nor the heavy snowfalls in northern Scotland.

The better conditions today resulted in a few records coming in - David D. had a Long-tailed Duck on loch Kinnabus - unusual to have a sighting on a freshwater loch. Ed B. saw the parvipes type Canada Goose down at Cornabus along with 5 Pink-footed Geese. There was also a report sent in of the Red-breasted Goose being seen in fields with Barnies above the moorland trail at Gruinart.

Here at Bruichladdich, with a flat calm sea and milder weather, the 6 or more Black Guillemots at the pier seemed to be pairing up, displaying and pretending it was spring!

Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th January

Two cold and wintery days with intermittent sleety, snowy showers.

There were no reports of any bird sightings yesterday, but today James H. was at the RSPB Gruinart North Hide where the Green-winged Teal is still present plus 3 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 adult White-tailed Eagles.

Billy Stitchell was out and about with his camera and sent in these lovely photos of our local birds:

 

Friday 2nd January

Clive McK. spotted a Barn Owl on a roadside fence at Gruinart last night.

Today, snowy showers along with fairly strong northerly winds brought a very wintry feel to a normally slightly more benign Islay.

I popped up to the top of Loch Indaal at Bridgend and walked out to the mouth of the River Sorn where a scattered total of 6 White-tailed Eagles sat and flapped into the wind on the flats. Here too were 2-3 Greenshanks and a couple of Little Egrets looking very chilly. Up at Loch Skerrols the loch seemed devoid of the usual Tufted Ducks but a trio of Goosander, including one male, made the visit worthwhile. Here at Bruichladdich were a record-beating total of 7 Greenfinches on my feeders.

Elsewhere, Andy Clements was out on the Oa where he counted 22 Twite on the RSPB Car Park feeders.

Thursday 1st January 2026

Happy New Year to all the readers of the blog. 

The first day of 2026 was cool, with northerly buffeting winds and sleety rain showers. 

However, some of us got out for some New Year's birding. I started things off with a couple of White-tailed Eagles sat out as usual on the flats of Loch Indaal at Bridgend. Andy Clements came by a little later and found three in the same place. We drove on to Bowmore where we found 5 Brent Geese, Andy Webb finding 20 there shortly after (photo below)! We then went on to The Oa and said hello to Ed Burrell at Cornabus who, shortly after we left, saw another White-tailed Eagle chasing Woodcock over his patch. At the RSPB The Oa car park it was too windy and wet to think about doing the walk out to the American Monument, so we had a coffee, lunch and watched the 25+ Twite at the feeders (my friend, Ken Chapman, with me from Sandwich in the SE of England mentioned that this species now requires a rarity description when see in Kent!). Andy Webb joined us here and managed to see a Golden Eagle on his way back to Port Ellen that we managed to miss! Andy then popped up to Ballygrant loch to "year tick" the three Ring-necked Ducks there.