Tuesday 17th February

 A bright and sunny day with light winds.

Thanks to Malcolm O. for writing the blog over the past two weeks while I've been away birding in Ecuador. It was an exciting trip with c.450 species seen including 70+ species of hummingbirds - but always good to be home.

Various reports in today focus largely on wildfowl: 4 Scaup, 12 Long-tailed Ducks, and "plenty" of Red-breasted Mergansers, Eiders, Common Scoters and Goldeneye along with 6 Slavonian Grebes and Great Northern & Red-throated Divers, plus odd Razorbills and Black Guillemots in Loch Indaal this morning under ideal, calm viewing conditions. Ed B. had the "small" Canada Goose at Cornabus and the Red-breasted Goose was again showing well at Craigens.

Clive McK. reports from Creag Mhor  that there have been up to 80 Chaffinches regularly at his feeders - but virtually no other finches accompanying them. He also saw a Barn Owl there today, successfully hunting in daylight and immediately being hassled by a Hooded Crow.

Monday 16th February

Quite a bit of rain accompanied, if briefly, by a southwest wind, though it is now working its way back east again via north.

Plenty of observations today, starting with Steve R. finding only a female Ring-necked Duck on Loch nan Cadhan, but no sign of the pair on neighbouring Loch Ballygrant, where, though, he saw 12 Tufted Ducks. He flushed Woodcock from the woods around the lake, and then had a flock of several hundred Golden Plover along the High Road on his way back to Port Ellen. New visitor Richard Grimmett found the male Green-winged Teal in front of the south hide at RSPB Loch Gruinart at lunchtime, also seeing 2 White-tailed Eagles, as well as Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier and Merlin.

In the early afternoon, David W. counted 115 Lapwings at Kinnabus and Steve Percival found a Cackling Goose at Starchmill in a flock of Barnacle Geese. At about the same time, David Jardine was photographing 3 Russian White-fronted Geese at Gleannagaoidh on the Rhinns. Later in the afternoon, on the ferry to Jura, he spotted 31 Brents beside the small island of Glas Eilean. Having watched an adult and an immature White-tailed Eagles flushing the Cackling Goose and the Barnacles at Starchmill, Steve R. moved to Gruinart and found the wintering Red-breasted Goose on the flats looking from Craigens.

And here's David Jardine's long lens photo of the 3 Russian Whitefronts. Their black belly markings are heavier than is perhaps usual, as one thinks of Greenland Whitefronts having more obvious bars, but the larger white foreheads and pinkish bills are very obvious.

 

Sunday 15th February

A wet morning was followed by a slightly brighter afternoon, but the major weather news is that the wind was from the west!

David Jardine reported a Carrion Crow with Hoodies at Ardnave yesterday. This species is more or less annual here, usually in ones or twos, very occasionally more, with distinct autumn and late winter peaks. Mary McR. reported a largish gathering of 34 Oystercatchers by her Port Wemyss house this morning, while David checked out the three Ring-necked Ducks still on Loch nan Cadhan.

Saturday 14th February

The morning started well with blue skies and sunshine, but all too quickly it clouded over with the wind getting up and the rain arriving later in the day.

Visitor Gill filed a late report of 4 Golden Eagles in the air at Ardnave yesterday, along with ringtail and male Hen Harriers, also 2 males seen near Cornabus, a Barn Owl the previous day at Ardnave, and a Greenshank near Bowmore.

Jim Wells was over on the rib from Ballycastle with members of the Northern Ireland Ornithologists Club and, despite having to leave earlier than planned because of the deteriorating weather, reported seeing no less than 5 White-tailed Eagles, 3 on Nave Island and 2 by the Gruinart hides. They also saw plenty of Choughs, a couple of Hen Harriers and several Roe Deer.

 

Thursday 12th and Friday 13th February

Thursday's weather continued the run of easterlies with some rain, but Friday saw an abrupt and very welcome change to a glorious sunny day after a very slight frost, with a light north to northeast breeze.

Owls dominate the sightings, with Clive Mck. seeing 2 roadside Barn Owls on Wednesday evening, 1 in the shelter of Eresaid wood,  the other on the fence outside the RSPB office at Gruinart, while David Jardine saw another Barn Owl at Blackrock at 2.20am on Thursday morning; I'm unsure whether David was out very late or very early. On Thursday evening, Mary McR. spotted a Tawny owl with prey at Ellister, then a Barn Owl just outside Portnahaven.

During the day on Thursday, Clive McK. was out and about, finding 1 Merlin, 85 Skylark in a flock, a possibly influx, and 12 Reed Buntings at Craigens, as well as 30+ Ravens and 2 White-tailed Eagles at Gearach.

 

Wednesday 11th February

See yesterday's forecast, but with more rain in the morning.

Today's sightings were all of wildfowl, which makes a change from raptors! Nick Parsons found the 3 Ring-necked Ducks on Loch nan Cadhan again and also saw what was presumably the same adult Light-bellied Brent as yesterday, this time in a Barnacle Goose flock just outside Bridgend, beside the Ballygrant road. At lunchtime, Fiona McG. reported a flock of 10 Pink-footed Geese at Sunderland, while later on Nick Parsons saw 4 in a flock of Greenland White-fronted Geese at Kintra. While ones and twos of Pinkfeet are regular among the wintering goose flocks, small flocks like this are usually only seen in autumn and spring, so these seem likely to be fairly recent arrivals. Perhaps the persistent east winds had something to do with it. Finally, David Jardine found the Chinese Goose in a flock of Greylags at Port Charlotte. It was present in the autumn, disappeared for a while, and then turned up again a week or two ago. One wonders in which farmyard it presumably lives in between its flights out to feed with its friends.

Craig Calladine took this long-distance photograph of the 3 Ring-necked Ducks on Loch nan Cadhan, a pair plus a second female.

 

Tuesday 10th February

Weather shouldn't be boring, but with the umpteenth day with easterly winds and some rain it it beginning to feel that way.

Ed B. reported a redhead Goosander on the Cornabus Burn in the morning, followed after lunch by a Lesser Black-backed Gull, his first migrant of the spring! A second one was seen around the same time by David Jardine just north of Bruichladdich. A single Pale-bellied Brent as seen by Nick Parsons in the Barnacle roost at Loch Indaal in the late afternoon, and visitors Arash Marashi and Craig Calladine reported that the 3 Ring-necked Ducks first seen on Loch Ballygrant in December were still present, though this time on the adjacent Loch nan Cadhan.

Visitor Rudolf has just posted a sequence of stunning photographs of a Sparrowhawk attacking a Hooded Crow which he took on January 20th. Here are three of them.