More unsettled weather today, fine to start with but deteriorating into rain and blustery SE winds.
Val P. and friends went up to Ardnave for a walk and had 3 Swifts flying south overhead.
Simon Cunningham was on Jura and had an Arctic Skua, working down the Sound of Islay close to the Jura shore from Inver towards Feolin. Sadly he lost sight of it before he could see if it showed any inclination to head inland, which might of course indicate breeding!
Two days of sunshine - very warm on Sunday, but windier from the SE on Monday.
Despite the gorgeous weather, there were few bird sightings on Sunday other than Steve & Lyn Rogers WeBS count at Loch an-t-Sailean recording many of the summer resident and breeding species and from David Livingstone who took this photo of a Lapwing escorting its chick across the high road at Leorin in the morning and a couple of Otters at Carraig Fhada in the evening.
Sunshine and Showers with southerly and westerly winds prevails.
Yesterday Jeff Duncan reported a Garden Warbler in the woodland at Gruinart - a very uncommon species on Islay. He also had a couple of Dippers at the Woollen Mill.
Nick Thomas wandered Bridgend Woods finding large numbers (50-60) of Chaffinches including young birds along with Bullfinch and Siskins.
Today I had the privilege of seeing Gordon Yates into a hide to photograph a pair of Hen Harriers bringing in prey to a nearby nest (all with due legal licensing in place of course!). Gordon has been filming, recording and photographing Islay's wildlife for 50 years - harriers, eagles, choughs, merlins, otters and all sorts of other special and iconic species. He feels this may be his last year. I hope not, but regardless, he is due a vote of thanks and gratitude for his long term dedication to promoting Islay's wildlife in such a creative way.
Rain and showers on Wednesday gave way to more or less permanent rain with SW winds on Thursday.
With weather like this is not surprising that there are few bird records to relay. There have been a few reports from our visiting birders - Jeff Duncan and Nick Thomas who have been braving the elements and seeing some of the regular species - Choughs, Hen Harriers, Cuckoos, Common Sandpipers and Spotted Flycatchers dotted about the island.
Here at Bruichladdich I noticed my first group of Eider ducklings being escorted by two females and male Eiders now going into moult.
The day started rainy and finished sunny. Light winds from a southerly direction throughout but still quite cool for June.
Mary-Ann F. took a group of High School kids on to Texa today and reports both Greylag and Canada Geese with goslings there, plus Cormorants.
Jeff Duncan counted Treecreeper, Siskin and Goldcrest in Bridgend Woods. Mark Crisp had a White-tailed Eagle over Machir Bay, Nick Thomas had a Hen Harrier on the Glen Road. Mary R. saw the best raptor though, with a Marsh Harrier at Claddach this afternoon.
Two further days of mixed sunshine and showers with light south and south-west breezes.
Bird reports of anything unusual have been few - though lots of notes on how some of our breeding birds are faring. Clive McK. has been monitoring several nests - Meadow Pipit, Willow Warbler and Blue Tit included with mostly poor results, possibly due to wet and cool weather making feeding difficult.
Elsewhere others have been noting the usual good mix of summer species around the island. Jeff Duncan found a Kestrel and Whinchat at Claddach and Nick Thomas noted the same strange behaviour of a summering Whooper Swan at Gruinart chasing away Mute Swans.
The fields on the seaward side between Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte are littered with families of Greylag Geese with goslings in various stages of growth - all looking very vulnerable to a multitude of predators!
Two days of mixed weather - sunshine and showers (mostly showers!) with a moderate breeze from various, mostly southerly directions.
The only report yesterday came from Clive McK. who noted 3 Gannets flying south down Loch Gruinart then heading "overland" presumably to go out to sea down Loch Indaal. This has been noted once before on Islay in 2019 and more regularly from the Ailsa Craig colony crossing over the 8 km of the Kintyre peninsula to the Atlantic side which saves them a 55km journey around its tip.
Today there was a report from Jeff Duncan of a few birds (single Great Northern Diver and Manx Shearwater and 3 Common Dolphins from the ferry across to Islay.
