Saturday 17th October

Very light winds, dry with sunshine all day - glorious - a day with plenty of birds and plenty of birders enjoying them.

Nicky Betts started the ball rolling with this sunrise photo indicating what a pleasant day it was going to be. Jim Dickson came over for the day and joined ranks with Rogan W. to test out a possible route for a possible future Bird Race Day. They zoomed about all over the island with Rogan notching up 94 species at the last count. He started with Redpoll and Great Spotted woodpecker at his home at Dunlossit, while Jim saw aa Kingfisher as he arrived at Port Askaig. I bumped into them while birding at the top of Loch Indaal in the morning where species seen from the Gaelic College included 12 Red-throated Divers, 1 Great Northern Diver, 6 Long-tailed Ducks, 2 Scaup, 2 Slavonian Grebes, 12 Common Scoter 7 Canada Geese and a Greenshank. Further round at Carnain we noted the Great White Egret and 2 Snow Buntings - photo below - (Theo de Clermont with his group finding 3 there later on). These were amidst vast numbers of Barnacle Geese resting on the low tide flats. Jim made the effort to count them and estimated 9,000. Here and at BlackRock we noted another Great Scaup, 150 Golden Plovers, single adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and White-tailed Eagle. 

I did a count on a flat calm sea of birds in Loch Indaal from Bruichladdich: 53 Common Scoter, 83 Eider, 23 Red-throated, one Black-throated and 4 Great Northern Divers, 2 Black Guillemots and single Common Guillemot.

Rogan and Jim continued their journey to Loch Gorm: 5 Pink-footed Geese, 2 Little Grebe, 978 Barnacle Geese, 5 Whooper Swans, 169 White-fronted Geese, At Loch Skerrols they found 2 Goldeneye and the first Pochard of autumn/winter -  single drake. 56 Whoopers (21 juvs included) were still on the fields at Rockside. Up at Gruinart they found 4 Little Egrets at the S. hide and a Merlin at the N. Hide. Returning via BlackRock another look produced 17 Slavonian Grebes and 2 Goldeneye. Finishing up at Loch Lossit Rogan reports a juv Golden Eagle and a Coot with 50 Redwings close to Lily Loch.

Other birders had all sorts of other sightings without the dashing about. Clive McK. and Teresa Morris amongst others were stationed again up at Gruinart noting continuing small groups of incoming Whooper Swans, but nowhere near as many as yesterday. Clive had 700 Golden Plovers at Gruinart, Teresa counted 32 Ringed Plovers at Killinallan, plus 29 Chough and 7 Twite. As the day unfolded, more White-tailed Eagles centred on Gruinart, presumably attracted by the large numbers of geese. Reports came in intermittently from Clive, Teresa and Nicky Betts of 3, then 5 then 6 and finally a tally of 11 White-tailed Eagles all hanging out together up and down the loch!!

Elsewhere on Islay, David D, had 3 Redwings and 96 Barnies straying over to Loch Kinnabus and 11 Great Northern Divers and a juv Arctic Tern at Claggain Bay.

A neck-collared White-fronted Goose seen at Loch Gorm was a bird ringed on Islay in the winter of 2019/20 and which has been seen in the same area of Loch Gorm/Carnduncan every winter since.

Friday 16th October

The weather took a bit of a turn for the good today - though there were still light intermittent showers between largely sunny conditions. The main change was a high pressure system prevailing over the north Atlantic producing moderate NW winds - colder, but perfect conditions for arrivals of geese and swans. And arrive they did, after a long wait, large numbers could be seen flying in all day and dropping onto the flats at Gruinart to rest before dispersing somewhat, perhaps to feed by the evening.

Clive McK. and Teresa Morris spent much of the day (9 hours in Clive's case) watching and counting at Gruinart. This produced a tally of 13,000 Barnacle Geese, just 69 Greenland White-fronts, 59 Greylags and 284 Whooper Swans. Clive noted that the influx peaked around midday. There were reports of Whoopers in small groups and flocks all over the island, but how many were different to those counted at Gruinart is impossible to know. All in all, a spectacular day of the anticipated return of the wintering wildfowl!

Other birds of interest today included Clive's record of 170 Kittiwakes flying up Loch Indaal this morning - very odd, and much the largest number seen "inland" away from the usual sea-watching/offshore sites. I was up at Gruinart enjoying the goose-fest this afternoon and found 4 Little Egrets and 55 Great Black-backed Gulls on the loch, 53 Snipe from the S. Hide and 750 Golden Plover and 24 Black-tailed Godwits from the N. Hide. Visitor Nicky Betts watched a Golden Eagle feeding on a hare, and one of apparently 7 White-tailed Eagles over Loch Gruinart frightening the newly arrived Barnacle Geese.

A photo of Loch Gruinart c/o Clive illustrates the better weather today, which hopefully will prevail into tomorrow and the next few days, though the winds are set to change back to southerly on Sunday, so tomorrow might be the best bet for further large arrivals of geese for a while.

Thursday 15th October

Another day of unsettled weather - moderate SW/W winds and heavy cloud with showers to start with , then slightly brighter with sunny spells between further heavy, squalls and rain at times.

Rogan W's watch at the Sound of Islay near Port Askaig produced single Great Northern and Red-throated Divers, 34 Shags, 10 Gannets, a Mistle Thrush flying between Islay and Jura and, most unusually a Kingfisher.

Whooper Swans were on the radar again today, with David D. seeing 28 flying over Kinnabus (plus a Merlin) and myself counting 10 (6 young) on Barley stubble at Sunderland and 53 on similar fields just harvested but in a very muddy, water-logged state at Kilchoman. The Kilchoman birds were part of a mass of many hundreds of gulls, Greylags and Barnies feeding on the spilt grain and exposed invertebrates. Towards Machir Bay there was a flock of 70 Linnets.

The "odd goose" saga continues just as we thought it was over with the predation of one a few days ago. But apparently there is a second bird on the island at Bridgend Flats discovered by Mary R. The debate on Chinese Goose versus Swan Goose also continues: the dead bird being declared Swan Goose (the wild species counterpart of the domesticated Chinese Goose) and the still extant bird probably being Chinese Goose. 

Back to more interesting wild birds, Bill Bealey had 100 Golden Plover, 60 Lapwings, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits and 6 Curlew on the fields around the North Hide at Gruinart.

Teresa Morris was up at Ardnave today and photographed the gathering Choughs in the late afternoon - count the dots to work out how many!

Wednesday 14th October

Strong southerly winds with a largely overcast sky and rain showers.

Teresa Morris had small groups of Whooper Swans totalling 20 birds heading south down Loch Gruinart at Craigens this morning. These were the only sightings of Whoopers noted today.

David D. sent in a couple of photos of the odd-looking Swan Goose/Chinese Goose that has been seen intermittently over the past few months on the Rhinns. He found it predated, probably by the local Golden Eagle over on The Oa. David also found a Goosander on Loch Astle and a vey cryptic Jack Snipe nearby:

Spot the Snipe!

Ian Hastie took a walk up to Ardnave Point finding 2 White-tailed Eagles, single Golden Eagle, Jack Snipe, Greenshank and 2 Red Grouse. The grouse were in a slightly odd location well to the north on the Ardnave peninsula - maybe the strong south winds blew them there! At RSPB Gruinart were 120 Golden Plover a couple of ring-tail Hen Harriers, 5-6 Pintail and a large count of Snipe - 30-40 on the floods and another 60 flying in.

Rogan W. did a 45 minute watch this afternoon on the Sound of Islay noting amongst other species, single Red-breasted Merganser, a flock of 7 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Great Black-backed Gulls, 3 Grey Herons, 3 Ravens and 3 Gannets.

Tuesday 13th October

Strong southerly/south-westerly winds bringing periods of sunshine between heavy, squally rain.

Teresa Morris was counting mostly in the Gruinart area again today and continued to note small groups of Whooper Swans (a total of 68 today) coming in despite the winds in the "wrong" direction. She also saw a Golden Eagle taking prey at Craigens and had a group of 14 Brent Geese, there being a further 10 seen by myself at Loch Indaal at Gartnatra, then 17 there seen by Ian Hastie. Clive McK. found 3 White-tailed Eagles at Killinallan and later counted 345 Wigeon, a Greenshank and increased the Brent tally to 21 birds at the Gaelic College. Rogan W. did a watch of the Sound for 30 minutes this morning noting his "usual" 3 White-tailed Eagles on both sides of the Sound, 9 Gannets and 14 Wood Pigeons south and 6 Eiders. Over on The Oa David D. saw a Merlin at Kinnabus.

Teresa provided further fine photos depicting the changeability of today's weather:

Monday 12th October

Strong southerly winds with plenty of rain and cloud.

Steve & Lyn Rogers sent in their WeBS count for yesterday on Loch an t-Salein recording 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 9 Red-breasted Mergansers, 4 Wigeon and 21 Shag amongst other species.

Despite winds from a generally southerly direction, there was a fairly large arrival of Whooper Swans throughout much of the day. Teresa Morris started the count of this species before 8am at Gruinart with flocks flying south totalling 140 birds with further small groups totalling 38 in the evening. Bill Bealey added a further c.40 birds in the Gruinart area. Clive McK. reported about 110 Whoopers in the same area, but currently it is not sure if these are additional or part of the same. 

Other birds of note today include: 12 Brent Geese at Craigens c/o Teresa, 5 more c/o Ian Hastie at the top of Loch Indaal. Single Jack Snipe recorded by Ed B. at Cornabus and James H. at Gruinart where he counted a substantial number (78) of Common Snipe. Redwings are beginning to appear - Ed B. had a few at Cornabus and Teresa tallied 28 around Loch Allan. Ian Hastie also had a Black-tailed Godwit with the more usual Bar-tailed godwits on Loch Indaal near the Gaelic College. Rogan W.'s contribution today was of a latish Swallow at Bowmore.

Sunday 11th October

A much nicer day with light southerly winds, sunshine and dry throughout.

Rogan W. did a "big Bird Day" county yesterday and despite appalling weather managed to record a very respectable 91 species - finishing predictably with Tawny Owls calling at his home near Port Askaig

Whooper Swans continue to come in and wander through, noted across the island by several different observers. totals for the day look to be c. 130 birds.

Similarly widely observed were Barnacle Geese with 250 accompanying c.800 Greylags in a field of very poor, possibly abandoned barley at Port Charlotte and c.750 at the top of Loch Indaal in the afternoon.

Other species included numerous White-tailed Eagles scattered here and there - Loch Gruinart, 2 at Port Askaig, flying across Loch Indaal to Carn from Gartbreck. David D. found the Great White Egret and Curlew Sandpiper still at Loch Gruinart and a Greenshank and Little Egret from the Gaelic College in Loch Indaal (where I saw a couple of Brent Geese). David also found our first Redwings (3) of the autumn at Kinnabus.

Rogan did a watch on the Sound of Islay for an hour noting amongst other thins a Buzzard flying from Islay to Jura, 2 very active White-tailed Eagles, 12 Gannets, 3 Grey Herons and a Red-throated Diver.

Teresa Morris was stationed up at Killinallan for much of the day and her totals included: 47 Whooper Swans (part of the total above), 404 additional Barnacle Geese, 3 White-tailed and 1 Golden Eagle, 2 make Hen Harriers, 47 Knot.

Teresa provided another lovely photo to illustrate the contrast between yesterday's weather and today: