Saturday 14th September

Yesterday Paul and Kathleen Robinson had seen 16 Pale bellied Brent geese and also a Peregrine over at Gruinart. At Coull, they had 20 Golden Plover. Today Paul and Kathleen are away home, so thanks for sharing some of their sightings while they were here. Also yesterday, Bob had taken a run out round Loch Gorm. He had a count of 52 Ravens, on research the collective name for them could be an unkindness of Ravens, a constable of Ravens or even a conspiracy of Ravens....All seen along at Sunderland. Also on the stubbles there, Bob counted a total of 980 Greylags.  Further on, he had a young male Hen Harrier, and down on Loch Gorm there were 52 Tufted Duck. Going further on round the Loch, Bob had a tally of 9 Stonechats, a Sedge Warbler, 2 Wheatear and another male Hen Harrier.

Friday 13th September

Yesterday, going over the "Glen road" from Ballygrant down to Mulindry past Storakaig, Paul and Kathleen had  seen a Sparrowhawk and also 2 Hen Harriers.  On Loch Lossit they had a Dabchick. Later on at the top of Loch Indaal, they saw 2 GND and from "smelly corner" 100 Barwits, 36 Ringed Plover and 46 Dunlin were added to their tally for the week. This morning Paul headed down to Frenchman's Rocks for a couple of hours sea watching from 7am. His tally there was 297 Manx Shearwater (all flying South), 424 Gannet (flying both N & S), 16 Fulmar, 8 Kittiwake, 1 Razorbill, 1 GND and 11 Shag. Mid afternoon, looking out of the kitchen window and over the big crag, there were 5 Buzzards flying around together along with 3 Ravens. There were around 50 Swallows flying round about the old church at the same time, so wonder if they were some youngsters gathering before heading off for warmer climes... We will wait and see if they are here tomorrow!

Thursday 12th September

Yesterday, Paul and Kathleen had a Greenshank and 5 Blackwits over at Loch Gruinart. The other day, here at home we had 2 White wagtails out on the grass. Today, before the weather closed in, we had a count of 40 Golden Plover at Coull and earlier on a male Hen Harrier out on the wing round below Leek, over the far side of Loch Gorm. This afternoon the raft of Scaup were still at Gartmain, the exact number I am not sure of. There were also 4 Whoopers there too. James had 3 Greenland Wheatears at Gruinart as well as 3 Rock Pipits.

Wednesday 11th September

Forgot to mention that we had a brief visit back on Sunday from Michal who was over on Islay for a few days. Michal has been up in Iceland as a "vol" for the past 3 months, another line on his cv!! While he was here, along with James, the 2 of them rescued a young Fulmar out in one of the fields. It would have taken off from its' nest on the crag, but could not make it out over the ridge and down to sea, so Michal and James took it down to Loch Indaal and released it there. Late this afternoon, we went round Loch Gorm and had a count of 6 Buzzards along the way. A few Greylags at Ballinaby, Stonechats on fence posts, a few Whearear along with a lot of Meadow Pipits as we went along with the odd Raven seen too. On the reserve at Gruinart today, James had a Merlin, Peregrine and a count of 37 Snipe. Weather today not too good with a misy coming and going for most of the time, net result, the "morning" plane came in early this afternoon, and the evening plane was just cancelled, do not think they really tried as it was cancelled by 18.15...  

Tuesday 10th September

Paul & Kathleen yesterday had seen an Osprey on Loch Gruinart, later on they counted 8 Pale bellied Brents at Blackrock. Earlier on, Paul had done some sea watching at Frenchman's Rocks with his tally as follows, 600 Manx Shearwater, 1 Sooty Shearwater, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 RTD, 400 Gannets, over 200 Fulmars, 8 Guillemot, 1 Wigeon and 1 Sparrowhawk, but no Kittiwakes! Today, they had 3 Golden Eagles up the North west coast of Islay, a Merlin at Ardnave Loch and also a Hen Harrier round Loch Gorm. Thanks Paul

Sunday 8th September

A different day again, no rain to speak off and better still I managed to get some grass cut... Yesterday, Carl had 5 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Blackrock on Loch Indaal. Today, Bob had "lots" of Skylarks flying high on migration above his house. Across the road at the waterworks, in the willow bushes, there were Willow Warblers and also juv Great Tits. A regular visitor to his garden, on almost a daily basis is a female Sparrowhawk. Up on Bolsay moor, Bob saw 2 young Sparrowhawks having a bit of a tussle at each other, no doubt a family dispute...

Saturday 7th September

Yesterday may have been a great day, but as I wrote last night, it started to rain and it just kept raining all night and for most of the morning, not a down pour, a steady rain yes, net result is that the rain guage so far for the month has registered almost an inch... and the temperature has dropped too, into single figures on the car at lunchtime when headed out to Bridgend. Bob counted 132 Scaup in a raft on Loch Indaal down at Gartmain. Visiting birder Paul had a White tailed Sea Eagle from the ferry as he came up the Sound of Islay.