Friday 20th March

Another glorious warm and sunny day.

It was last day of the trip for Nick Goddard and among his sightings were 5 Little Egrets at Gruinart where he saw a Golden Eagle heading off with what was probably a Barnacle goose as prey. Steven Murray saw another Golden Eagle at Loch Gorm plus a couple of Sand Martins - the latter also being clocked by Nick Bone along with a Wheatear at Ardnave, where he found a Merlin and both Golden and White-tailed Eagles annoying the geese. Ed B. saw another Wheatear at Lenavore, while over at Claggain Bay Mary-Ann F, had 6 Great Northern Divers and paired up Ringed Plovers, Oystercatchers, Pied Wagtail and Shelduck. She also reported a couple of Great spotted Woodpeckers at Kildalton.

Most intriguing today has been a late note from Mary R. of reports of a Crane down at Port Wemyss and McKenzie Island. We aren't sure who saw it, or how well it was seen, but given that one was seen well at Moine Mhor, Lochgilphead last night and this morning, it sounds a likely genuine sighting and something to search for tomorrow. There have only been four previous confirmed sightings of Crane on Islay.

Thursday 19th March

A glorious warm, calm and sunny day - summer is here at least for a day or two!

Nick Goddard was birding over on Jura today with the following results: 

Sound of Islay, from Feolin: 10 Common Eiders, 2 Shags, Cormorant 

A846 from Feolin to Lussa: Red Throated Diver, 2 Pink-footed Geese, c.85 Canada Geese at Craighouse, White-tailed Eagle (photo below) Achamore, 2 Grey Herons, 3 Buzzard, Raven & Stonechat.

On Islay there was a first small arrival of more summer migrants: a first Chiffchaff heard singing by Paul Miller at Aoradh, Gruinart, Wheatears at Kintra, Saligo and Claddach, with 3 Sand Martins at Kintra and 2 at Kinnabus seen by the David D & David W.

Morven Laurie from Nature Scot kindly forwarded the last of the winter's International Goose Count results for Islay carried out on 17th-18th March: 29,759 Barnacle Geese, 4,869 Greenland White-fronted Geese and 1,202 Greylag Geese.

Billy Stitchell has been out and about with his camera and sent in some photos very redolent of the change-over from winter to spring, with wintering Wigeon and Greenshank lingering along with paired-off Mallards and singing Robins.

Wednesday 18th March

At last - a lovely warm, sunny and spring-like day. Unsurprisingly, this produced the first of the summer migrants. Clive McK. had a Wheatear at Ardnave with Harry and Denise Failey finding another on The Oa, where they also noted 3 Golden Eagles (2 adults and an immature). Later, near the road down to The Machrie Hotel they found a/the Magpie. Down at Claddach, Mary R. found our first Sand Martin, plus a couple of White-tailed Eagles perched up at Claddach Loch plus 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. David D. had a White Wagtail at Kinnabus where he also noted the Long-tailed Duck still on loch Kinnabus and a lone Pink-footed Goose. Steven Murray was the only one reporting from Gruinart today where he saw a Golden Eagle from the South Hide. In the fine weather the Black Guillemots were much in evidence at their usual haunts of Port Askaig and Bruichladdich Pier.

I stopped off at Blackrock in the afternoon sunshine to look over the calm waters of Loch Indaal. Nicholas Watts had previously seen 6 Brent Geese here, and I added 83 Common Scoters, 41 Red-breasted Mergansers, 4 Long-tailed Ducks, 6 Slavonian Grebes, 14 Red-throated and 11 Great Northern Divers. (Coincidentally, David Jardine was counting just across the water at the Sound of Gigha and added a further 172 Common Scoters, 22 Long-tailed Ducks and 27 Slavonian Grebes, and suggested that the combined total probably represents a substantial proportion of the Argyll total for these species).

Clive McK. sent in a note about finding a total of 6 Great northern Divers washed up dead on the big Strand (Laggan Bay) earlier in the week. It is a v ery long beach, so may mean nothing, but  always sad to see and worrying that it might be a few of a much larger number  that have died due to bad weather, disease or who knows what?

Tuesday 17th March

Weather today was basically "more of the same" - mild, but breezy from the south with odd bits of sunshine between rain.

Nick Goddard was out and about reporting birds on wet fields between Ballinaby and Saligo: 2 Choughs (one colour-ringed on the left leg with Grey-blue above yellow) also 19 Ringed Plovers, c5 Turnstones and 5 Redshanks. In the afternoon he noted a male Hen Harrier on the moor by Octofad.

Harry and Denise Failey saw a couple of Grey Wagtails at the Woollen Mill then scored with the three Ring-necked Ducks (a male with 2 females) still loitering on Loch Ballygrant.

Here at Bruichladdich there were 2 Siskins on the feeders.

Sunday 15th & Monday 16th March

More rain with sunny spells between. Slightly milder on Monday as winds came more directly from the south.

Yesterday Nick Goddard had 100+ Golden Plovers, mixed with Lapwings in fields near the RSPB Visitor Centre at Loch Gruinart, where I counted 13 Whooper Swans and  had 4 Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of pairs of Gadwall viewable from the hides. Harry & Denise Failey saw a Black-throated Diver on Loch Indaal early in the day.

At Bruicladdich Nick noted a Cormorant fishing near the pier.

Today at the South Hide Nick counted  8 Curlew amidst Lapwings, Pintail, Wigeon, Shoveler and Teal. He also provided this photo of a couple of displaying pairs of Red Breasted Mergansers. Steven Murray had a ring-tailed Hen Harrier near Crosshouses. Harry & Denise Failey noted 40 Twite near Kilchoman and saw the Bruichladdich Cormorant again.

Friday 13th & Saturday 14th March

A couple more days of turbulent and changeable weather - sunny at times in between cold squally showers.

Yesterday's main news was a sighting of a Nuthatch at Craighouse, found by Theo's Nature Scotland group and photographed by Tim Wilson. There has been just one previous record on Jura of a single bird logged during the BTO 2007-11 Winter Atlas, with a likely date of 10th December 2008. Similarly, there is only one Islay record of a bird at Bunnhabhain on 2nd June 2020. The species is spreading fast into Argyll, so it has long been anticipated that more records and possible future breeding will occur here and on Jura.

Another minor rarity yesterday was a Magpie at Laggan Bay Distillery near the airport, first seen by Clive McK, who also had a large count of 130 Wood Pigeons at Loch Tallant. 

Steve & Lyn Rogers noted a Cormorant off the Gaelic College and today watched two adult White-tailed Eagles perched up near their home at Emerivale.

Harry & Denise Failey returned for another week of birding today and sent a good count of 150 Skylarks along the Ardnave road. David Dinsley was delighted to be able to get a proper photo of a Red Grouse today on The Oa - they are usually flying away at speed seconds after being seen!

Thursday 12th March

A blustery, windy and cold day with sunshine and squally rain - more rain than sun!

The only bird news comes from Theo and his Nature Scotland group who found the Green-winged Teal from the South Hide at RSPB Gruinart.