James e mailed me through the following earlier on this evening..
"Slightly better weather today and a few birds:
3 White tailed Eagles on the salt marsh today
11 Whooper Swans
1 Merlin
chasing a Dunlin way off up into the sky
3 Greenshank
13 Knot
1 Pale bellied Brent. "
Sorry folks, but I should have told you last night that there was/ will not be a meeting of the Islay bird nerds last night/ tonight because of the legislation that is still in place regarding folk meeting up together....
Morven Laurie sent me though the figures of the geese counted last Tuesday and on Wednesday for the International Goose count, with the scores on the doors coming to 34,381 Barnies, 5,763 Whitefront and 1,354 Greylags. The Goose figures from last November came to 35,381 Barnies, 5,512 Whitefronts and 1,210 Greylags...
Many thanks to Morven and her team from Nature Scotland (SNH as it was once called) for sharing these figures with us.
The other day Peter had a walk round Loch Skerrols, "All counts were down on previous totals.
Whoopers were down to about 65; Wigeon at 80 and Tufted Duck at 75.
There was a female Scaup which was a little unusual for Skerrols, butGary and Sam had carried out their WeBS count from Blackrock back round to Bowmore with the "Scores on the doors" coming to :
Great Northern Diver 1, Red breasted Merganser 10, Cormorant 3, Slavonian Grebe 1, Eider 4, Scaup 7, Mallard 74, Teal 69, Ringed Plover 47, Dunlin 2, Turnstone 13, Redshank 4, Oystercatcher 147, Curlew 17, Bar tailed Godwit 5, Grey Heron 2, Mute Swan 3, Knot 58, Black headed Gull 8, Common Gull 22, Herring Gull 9, Great black backed Gull 2, Little Egret 1, Brent Geese 43, Barnacle Geese 2, Greylag Geese 20.
One of the Knot had an orange flag ring with the letters PEV on its left leg over a pale blue leg ring, it had a metal ring on its right leg. Checking with a ringer in Norway to see if it is one of his birds.
Good friend Karen Graham from Bearsden wrote the following e mail about the events seen by her in the garden...
"Very excited to see a Nuthatch on the willow picking up peanuts from around the squirrel feeder. Flies in and out to stash them away nearby. A first in 36 years here at the house. Did see a Tree Creeper yesterday afternoon too but it comes in fairly often. Apart from this usual suspects of blue, Coal and Great Tits, GS Woodpecker, Dunnock, the trio of Magpies following the Squirrels including Stumpy (a squirrel), to see where they are burying nuts only for Magpies to dig up straight away. Now have 5 Blackbirds - 3 male and 2 female, odd chaffie, Wood pigeon and feral pigeons too and not forgetting the Robin. It's all go, and certainly an entertaining time at this time of year and in a level 4 area. Aha, a Starling now on the fat cake, so his pals will soon appear. No fox yet but he will drop in later for sure."
Earlier on this week, Lesley had carried out the WeBS count from Bowmore to Gartbreck when her birds counted were as follows: 12 Barwits, 21 Curlew, 6 Grey Heron, 35 Oystercatcher, 56 Ringed Plover, 4 Cormorant, 26 Shag, 157 Wigeon, 33 Mallard, 626 Barnies, 21 Eider, 5 Lt Duck, 17 RBM, 4 Sanderling, 1 Turnstone, 6 Redshank, 7 Scaup and 13 GND
Gary today had seen a Little Egret around about "smelly corner" towards Whin Park along the merse there.
Well, for one day at least it has stayed dry out on Islay, having said that, it was a bit on the cold side, at least we did not get any snow, I see that Fair Isle had its first fall earlier on today...
Up here at home, and when looking out of the window, mid morning, up high in the sky above the crag, we saw a pair of Golden Eagles out flying or rather soaring around... Great to see and watch!!!!
