Tuesday 25th August

 A dry, sunny day with a light to moderate breeze from the east and south.

Yesterday Mary R. noticed birds flocking together in an "autumnal way": 20 Meadow Pipits and 12 Goldfinches included, plus young Wheatears and a trio of young Choughs. There was a White-tailed Eagle over Claddach this morning.

David D. had a Whimbrel on The Oa this afternoon while I took a quick look at Gruinart, finding 32 summery Knots and 20 equally summery Black-tailed Godwits on the flats along with a White-tailed Eagle and 4-5 Buzzards - the eagle very sluggish, the Buzzards very active. There were also 8 Canada Geese seen from the North Hide, but not much else.

Later in the afternoon visitor Andy Harris was at Loch Gruinart and was treated to the sight of an Osprey catching a flat fish and then being pursued by a White-tailed Eagle. The Osprey dropped the fish but it was not apparently retrieved by the eagle. Later Andy saw two White-tailed Eagles back sitting on the flats.

Talking of Canada Geese, there was a recent note to the effect that the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) have been reviewing all records of what are considered truly vagrant Canada Geese in the UK and the first accepted record is now a bird at Kilchoman from 24 October - 3 November 1986, pre-dating the previously accepted first record. There are now 65 accepted records of vagrant Canada Geese in the UK.

Sunday 23rd & Monday 24th August

 Two pleasant days of sunshine and light winds.

Alastair McCormick sent in a couple of photos of a Water Rail that showed up in his garden at Craigens overnight on Saturday.

On Sunday Martin A. saw 3 Little Egrets, 2 Greenshanks and 2 White-tailed Eagles at the top of Loch Indaal by the mouth of the Sorn, while David W. counted 8 Greenshanks on Loch Gruinart by the Oystershed. Rogan W. was counting on Loch Indaal near Bridgend - 363 Greylag Geese, 163 Oystercatchers and 2 Cormorants. 

Today Louise Muir reports "thousands" of seabirds active in the Sound of Jura this morning - mostly Razorbills, Guillemots and Gannets, presumably feeding on fish shoals.

Saturday 22nd August

Dry with a light northerly breeze.

Thanks to Malcolm O. for keeping the blog going in my absence. 

David Jardine was on the ferry from Kennacraig this morning and saw c.10 Storm Petrels. Rogan W. saw a Little Egret, a Wigeon and a few Black-tailed Godwits at the top of Loch Indaal and heard the Tawny Owls calling loudly at Port Askaig.

Friday 21st August

A dry fairly sunny day, but with a cool northerly breeze.

The only bird sighting came from Rogan W. whose garden at Dunlossit was visited by 3 Red Crossbills. The birds perched and were silhouetted against the light, but, as he said, "Thank goodness for the bill."

 

 

Thursday 20th August

A fine day with some sunshine but a cool northerly wind.

Jim Dickson started the day off with more news of the GPS-marked Knot, which arrived at Gruinart yesterday morning, to say that it had returned to North Uist which it had visited before coming to Islay. Speculation about this unusual movement centered round it possibly wanting to return to a larger flock, but that really is just speculation. Whatever the reason, there's no doubt that large gaps in our knowledge of bird migration are being filled by the use of GPS tags. What is also of interest is that Clive McK saw Knot moving south from Gruinart yesterday evening, but clearly not including this bird.

In the late afternoon. Clive saw 4 Arctic Skuas, including a superb pale adult, heading south low over his house above the west shore of Loch Gruinart. They climbed and circled as they headed towards Bushmill, then turned west high over Carnduncan, ignoring Loch Indaal and heading to Loch Gorm/Machir Bay. Clive has seen Arctic Skuas follow this line before, and thinks that they might have come from the east coast of Scotland, following the Great Glen to the west coast on the back of the NE and N winds.

And here is a photograph by the late Gordon Langsbury of a pale phase Arctic Skua.

 

 

Wednesday 19th August

A wet morning gradually dried up to a sunny afternoon, but with more rain during the night.

Clive McK once again supplied almost all the bird records for today, starting off at midday with 50 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Ruff, and 1 juvenile Marsh Harrier on or over the Gruinart Flats. During the afternoon, Jim Dickson, the Argyll Bird Recorder, reported the details of a Knot carrying a GPS tag which had arrived at Gruinart about 07.00. It is part of a Dutch study, with the bird ringed in the Netherlands back in February, presumed to have bred in East Greenland, and picked up in North Uist on its way south. The bird was colour ringed, but, although Clive went to look for it later in the day, it may well have moved on as he saw Knots leaving for the south in the late afternoon. However, a consolation for him was a Glossy Ibis on the Flats. There was a large influx of this species into Britain last September, with 2 spending some time in the Gruinart area.

Clive spent from 19.30 to 20.50 monitoring bird movements at Gruinart and noted the following, all moving south: 17 Oystercatchers, 1 Ringed Plover, 2 Whimbrel, 68 Redshanks, 22 Knots, 1 Ruff and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. He also counted 9 Common Snipe feeding in the fields.

Tuesday 18th August 

 Several showers during the day.

 The only reports today came from Clive McK who was at Carnain in the early afternoon, where he found a juvenile Wood Sandpiper, while there were 400 Dunlin, 200 Ringed Plover, 30 Sanderling and 10 Knot on the Bridgend Flats. Wood Sandpipers, almost always single birds, turn up pretty much every year, though more in the spring than in late summer/autumn.

Clive also tried a seawatch at Portnahaven, but it was pretty quiet, though, in the morning, he saw a total of 12 Lesser Blackback Gulls migrating south over Gruinart. In the early evening, there were 4 Ruffs feeding on the Gruinart flats fields.