Monday 2nd November

A very pleasant day with very light south/south-east winds and sunshine with a high pressure system dominating.

Mike Bell made a very useful, detailed and complete survey of birds on Loch Indaal from Gartbreck all the way round to Port Charlotte (a proper, all-in-one-go WeBS count!) producing some substantial totals:

66 Red-throated Divers, 38 Great Northern Divers, 5 diver spp., 32 Slavonian Grebes, 198+ Shags, 2 Cormorants, 15 Mute Swans, 19 Whooper Swans, 10 Canada Geese, 43 Brent Geese, 2 Shelduck, 830 Wigeon, 405 Teal, 144 Mallard, 135 Eider, 107 Common Scoter 14 Long-tailed Duck, 4 Goldeneye 91 Red-breasted Mergansers, 860 Golden Plover, 143 Ringed Plover, 14 Sanderling, 44 Dunlin, 225 Bar-tailed Godwits, 53 Curlew, 54 Knot, 2 Little Egret 3 White-tailed Eagles.

Elsewhere Rogan W. had 2 Crossbills, single Water Rail and 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers near Port Askaig. At Gruinart Neil McMahon's Naturetrek group saw 3 White-tailed Eagles and 7 Black-tailed Godwits, plus a Barn Owl at Eresaid. They did a walk in the fine weather to Ardnave Point finding 4 White-tailed Eagles, single Golden Eagle, 10 Choughs, and single Snow Bunting and Purple Sandpiper - the latter at the point. Also 6 Goldeneye and a Little Grebe on the loch.

Mick Durham with a second Naturetrek group was on Jura for the day finding a Brent Goose at Craighouse.

Rogan sent in this photo with the caption "As autumn turns to winter the Grey Heron stands quietly amongst the fading colours of the season"

Sunday 1st November

A generally bright, dry and sunny day with light northerly winds.

Mick Durham with his Naturetrek group were on The Oa today finding 2 Golden Eagles by the American Monument and a couple of White-tailed Eagles over the car park  (photos below).

Billy Stitchell was at Cluanach plantation finding 2 Bullfinches, 8 Siskins and 2 Redpoll. Along the Glen road were several flocks of Redwing and a few Buzzards (photo below).

Rogan W. was at Port Askaig in the morning noting Sparrowhawk (with another later at Storakaig), Great Spotted Woodpecker, 3 Greenfinch and 3 Brambling, 26 Wood Pigeons and a Carrion Crow with the Hoodies.  He also commented on a constant movement of Blackbirds and Redwings coming in. Watching the Sound from Port Askaig he noted a single Great Northern Diver and 38 Greylags flying over Islay to Jura. 

David W. was at Kilnaughton Bay finding 16+ Great Northern Divers plus a flock of Fieldfares and single Brambling at Risabus. James H. was at Ardnave in the afternoon seeing 2 White-tailed and one Golden Eagle plus 7 Snow Buntings. Paul Handyside upped the White-tailed Eagle count there to 3 - possibly the same three he'd seen on the other side at Killinallan in the morning - but Mike Bell notched up 4 in the same area. At Rockside Mike tallied 171 Whooper Swans, a Peregrine, 120 Redwings and 2 Yellowhammers. At Loch Gorm were 9 Pink-footed Geese and 1,450 Greylags along with further singles of Golden and White-tailed Eagles, 2 more Goldens with an immature at Beinn Dubh and 8 Fieldfares at Neriby.

I checked out the two hides at RSPB Gruinart where there were substantial numbers of Barnies and Teal but no Red-breasted Goose or American Wigeon visible with them.

Saturday 31st October

Moderate to light winds with plenty of cloud and drizzle at times.

Mike Bell got "Bird of the Day" by sighting a drake American Wigeon from the north hide at RSPB Gruinart this morning. He also found 3 Gadwall, 54 Shoveler, 9 Black-tailed Godwits, 57 Snipe, Hen Harrier and 4 immature White-tailed Eagles perched in front of the hide in the afternoon. Elsewhere he found a Kingfisher at the mouth of the river Sorn and a Goosander and Grey Wagtail from the bridge over the river at Bridgend. Finally there was a Peregrine and 4 Yellowhammers at Gartnatra and an immature Golden Eagle at Boricill Mor.

Other birders in different parts of the island have also been busy. Rogan W. watched over the Sound of Islay from Port Askaig again this morning with the prize of a late dark phase Arctic Skua which went south then diverted to cross Jura. He also sent in the two delightful photos of Brambling. Martin Armstrong noted a Barnacle Goose with neck collar and colour rings that Ed B. reckons is from the breeding population in Iceland. Steve Percival notes that the Cackling Goose is now on stubble fields at Eorrabus near the entrance to Esknish.  Rogan watched 2 quite vocal White-tailed Eagles near Port Askaig while Mick Durham had 2 others perched in conifers above Port Ellen bay and confirms the Snow Goose still at Cornabus. Rogan also had  5 Bullfinches, a Grey Wagtail  plus a large flock of 50+ Redpolls all near Lily Loch.

Friday 30th October

Breezy from the SE, but dry and fairly sunny.

Single Bramblings were seen by Rogan W. south of Port Askaig (photo below) and by James H. in the woodland at Gruinart. Rogan also 27 Redwing in the same area and a Yellowhammer at Storakaig. Ed B. noted that the Snow Goose was still at Cornabus while Audrey and Bob Turner located the Red-breasted Goose in the RSPB's fields on the road leading up to the Visitor Centre. Mick Durham was back on Islay with the second Naturetrek group of the autumn and recorded Golden Eagle near Coullabus. Mike Bell had a high count of 40 siskins at the Woollen Mill, 37 Redwing and 6 Yellowhammers at Octavulin and a total of 4 Hen Harriers - two each at Sanaigmore and Borichill Mor.

Thursday 29th October

A basically dry, sunny at times day with light to moderate winds from a more southerly/ south-easterly direction.

Not a great amount of bird news posted today. Ed B. reported that the Snow goose had left Leorin and turned up at his farm at Cornabus. Mandy H. saw 11 adult and 9 young Whooper Swans in stubble fields near Rock Mountain. Rogan W. took a look at birds travelling south down the Sound of Islay in the afternoon, noting amongst other species 13 Kittiwakes, single Great Northern Diver and Black-headed Gull, 58 Shags and a Buzzard again seen flying from Jura to Islay.

Mike Bell sent in his notes for today, being pleased to have seen all 8 regular raptor species in one day - both eagles, Hen Harrier, a total of 13 Buzzards, plus Kestrel, Peregrine, Merlin and Sparrowhawk. Mike also counted a substantial number of Whoopers in the Kilchoman/Loch Gorm area - 156 in all.

Yesterday I commented on the number of Barn Owls being seen during the day and the attacks on them by Peregrine and White-tailed Eagle. Paul Handyside sent in his unique photos of the attack by the White-tailed Eagle, firstly the owl and the eagle, then the confrontation between the two:

Wednesday 28th October

A dry, but damp and cloudy day with much lighter winds - almost pleasant after the previous few days of storms and rain!

Not too much reported today, though I believe the Red-breasted Goose was seen at Gruinart.

David D. reports a male Bullfinch at Kinnabus and Clive McK. had a Coal Tit in his garden up at Creag Mhor - first of the autumn. Rogan W. had 2+ Bramblings with Chaffinches in the woodland behind Dunlossit and 2+ Water Rails calling close to the track leading down to Lily Loch from the road. Loch Indaal was covered in thousands of Barnacle Geese on the flats this morning, and with them a discrete group of 9 large/feral Canada Geese.

Mike Bell sent in some interesting records - single Gadwall and 2 Goldeneye at Ardnave Loch. At Traigh Nostaig were single Merlin and Grey Plover and 52 Bar-tailed Godwits. Off Ardnave point were 10 Great Northern Divers and a White-tailed Eagle coming over from Nave Island. There were 2 Hen Harriers at Coullabus, another at Sanaigmore with another Merlin. Cherckling out Loch Skerrols he found the Ring-necked Duck among 68 Tufted Ducks.

In the morning Audrey & Bob Turner saw a Barn Owl near the road at Gruinart, and Clive saw one hunting at Lyrabus. There have been a number of day time sightings recently suggesting that their feeding patterns have been messed up with this horrible weather? On Sunday Neil McMahon saw a Peregrine going after, and hitting if not actually catching a flushed Barn Owl at the RSPB Gruinart viewpoint. Today Mike Bell saw another day-time hunting Barn Owl at Blackpark/Blackrock and Paul Handyside got some remarkable photos of yet another Barn Owl (or is it the same unfortunate individual?) out in the daytime and being caught/nearly caught by an immature White-tailed Eagle. Paul is hoping to share the photos with the group in due course.

Tuesday 27th October

Winds still very blustery and gone more to the west again as the low pressure systems pile through. Mostly grey and rainy, but a period of bright sunny weather with isolated heavy downpours in the middle of the day.

Mike Bell, arrived recently and mentioned the following birds of note today: 116 Whoopers around Kilchoman, 101 Pintail, 41 Shoveler, c.1,500 Teal and a single Gadwall on the floods at RSPB Gruinart.

Steve Percival found the Red-breasted Goose at Gruinart and I noted the SDnow Goose still in the same fields at Leorin during the morning.  Further Whoopers were 36 at the top of Loch Indaal and 10 at Loch Kinnabus (3 young) c/o David D. Mary R. had a male Hen Harrier at Tormisdale and 3 Choughs at Claddach.

Below are some further great photos from Neil McMahon's recent Naturetrek tour here.