Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th March

A couple of blustery days with cold, sometimes quite strong northerly and westerly winds and icy showers between sunshine.

Ched & Nigel Barratt were out in all weathers on both days. On Tuesday they recorded:

Bowmore: 2 Red Throated Divers. Ardnave: 2-3 Hen Harriers, 2 White-tailed Eagles, 3 Choughs, Immature Golden Eagle, 2 Great Northern Divers. Loch Gorm: a single Wheatear. Kilchoman/Machir Beach: 2 Choughs another Golden Eagle and 160 White-fronted Geese. Port Charlotte: 28 Eiders. Black Rock: A Merlin, 27 Bar-tailed Godwits and 3 Brent Geese.

Today they spent a bit of time on Islay and on Jura:

Morning on Jura: Craighouse garden feeder with 6 Greenfinches, 2 White-tailed Eagles south of Craighouse, Hen Harrier by Jura House, another plus a Golden Eagle between Jura House and Feolin and 2 Great Northern Divers by  the ferry.

Later, back on Islay: Finlaggan: Pair of Goldeneye and 3 Sand Martins. Loch Ballygrant: 16 Tufted Ducks and a Hen Harrier. Barr Farm/Cattadale: A Golden Eagle. Loch Tallant: 70 Golden Plover.

David Clugston was another birder braving the vagaries of the weather today and sent in the following sightings: a Greenshank and 2 Grey Plover at the mouth of the River Sorn, an adult White-tailed Eagle and a Hen Harrier near Laggan bridge with Greenfinches and Siskins on feeders at Bridgend. 

The only other bird news is that a small group of colour-ringed/collared Greenland White-fronted Geese from County Mayo in Ireland are lurking in the Kilchoman area and Ed B. sent in a request for anyone interested to go and have a look to try and read the rings/collars.

I spent an hour or so trying playback at Kildalton Woods in the vain hope of confirming the sound record of a Nuthatch from a couple of days ago. No luck, but the weather wasn't great, so maybe worth another try as the habitat looks good.

Monday 23rd March

 Cool, breezy and mostly cloudy, but no rain to speak of.

Visitors Ched & Nigel Barratt sent in records from "the other side" of the island: The Oa - 30 Twite at Killeyan and 35 White-fronted Geese at Cornabus. Port Ellen - 8 Ringed Plover on the beach. Loch a Chnuic - a Great Northern Diver. Claggain Bay - a further 11 Great Northern Divers. Machrie - 2 Hen Harriers and 80 Golden Plover. Corrary - another male Hen Harrier.

Marcus Covell from the Islay Woollen Mill heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker at Cluanach - always good to receive records of this species to be able to assess how the small population of breeding birds is doing since their colonisation of Islay in 2012.

Sunday 22nd March

The day started out overcast with threats of rain, became bright and sunny, then reverted to very light rain showers again by late afternoon. Wind light from the West.

Mary R. saw 4 Whooper Swans flying north off Claddach this morning. In the afternoon Steve & Lyn R. saw a couple of White-tailed Eagles over the Port Ellen skerries prior to doing their WeBS count at Loch an t-Sailein (Seal Bay).  Among various counts were 14 Red-breasted Mergansers, 10 Wigeon, 8 Curlew and 2 Canada Geese.

David & Pauline Clugston were back on Islay today and noted a male Crossbill with Redwings and Fieldfares in the pine copse at Sunderland. They had 3 Hen Harriers at Loch Gorm, a male Wheatear at Ardnave, Greenshank in Loch Gruinart with 4+ Black-tailed Godwits and 4 Gadwalls on the Gruinart floods. 

Saturday 21st March

 A slightly cooler and cloudier day, but dry.

Harry & Denise Failey left today, but counted 140 Dunlin and 114 Bar-tailed Godwits at the top of Loch Indaal on their way to the ferry. James how was up at Ardnave where there were 3 White-tailed and a Golden Eagle, Merlin and 3 Purple Sandpipers, with another Golden Eagle, Hen Harriers sky-dancing, 3 Gadwall, a Sand Martin and 9 Black-tailed Godwits (some in summery plumage) at Gruinart.

I went down to Port Wemyss and around the southern part of the Rhinns with the hope of coming across yesterday's probable Crane, but had no luck. A flock of 60 Chaffinches at Gearach was the best I could muster.

An interesting report came in from Mary-Ann F. over at Kildalton of a Nuthatch identified by call on the Merlin app on her walk through the area. This would be Islay's second record of the species. Although the bird wasn't seen and we all know Merlin isn't infallible, it fits rather nicely with the recent sighting of Jura's second Nuthatch a week or so ago and the general spread of the species south into Argyll. So if anybody is over that way listen and look out for it to get a 100% confirmation.

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?