Thursday 30th & Friday 31st July

Two more days of mixed rain showers and sunshine with moderate westerly winds.

Yesterday Rogan Wolhuter had a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the woodland just south of Port Askaig and sent in this fine photo. Otherwise it was all about White-tailed Eagles: Karim Labib saw one approaching the dead Minke Whale on Machir Bay, but being mobbed by a Buzzard and flying off. He also saw 2 sub-adult White-tailed Eagles there a little later along with a substantial count of 13 Wheatears. Later he was on Jura and found a male Hen Harrier 3-4 miles north of the Feolin ferry.

Clive McKay had 2 Whinchats at Gruinart - an adult with young. Later, Clive and I were over on Jura and watched an  adult pair of White-tailed Eagles that ended up happily sitting on the same branch in a fine woodland tree for upwards of 5 hours without doing anything much apart from stretching wings and legs whenever the sun came out.

Today Bill Bealey had 2 White-tailed Eagles at the Ard, Port Ellen and Jo Rosser-Owen had a Sparrowhawk in Bridgend Woods. Clive McK. a Little Egret and 175 Bar-tailed Godwits at Gartnatra and a juv cuckoo at Coullabus. Karim saw an Arctic Skua in Loch Indaal from Port Charlotte and Rogan found 3 Greenshanks on Loch Gruinart by The Oystershed, plus a few birds in the woods around Dunlossit: Bullfinch, Treecreeper, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 14 Redpolls and 5 Grey Herons including an adult with young on nest around Lily loch/Loch Allan. Val Peacock heard a quite late Corn Crake calling briefly at the north end of Port Charlotte in fields by the new housing.

Theo from Nature Scotland kindly alerted us to a report he'd seen on ebird this morning of an adult Mediterranean Gull at Blackrock, Loch Indaal.

Wednesday 29th July

Cloud, quite heavy rain at times and pleasantly cool temperatures during the day, the westerly breezes dropping by an evening with a bit of sunshine.

Roger Wolhuter, newly arrived resident birder on Islay, sent in a record of 2 Tawny Owls calling all night up at Port Askaig. He also noted 12 Redpolls, 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Grey Wagtail and 4 Spotted Flycatchers - 2 adults with recently fledged young.

Karim Labib and a ring-tailed Hen Harrier at Loch Gruinart and a male Hen Harrier near Port Charlotte, plus 3 Twite at Sanaigmore and a Whinchat on the east side of Loch Gorm.

Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th July

SW moderate winds bringing in belts of drizzle, cloud, mist and rain between a few sunny periods.

Yesterday David D. had 3 Greenshank at Loch Kinnabus. Ed B. had a reeling Grasshopper Warbler at Cornabus. Bill Bealey had a Chough at Kilnaughton, Lucy Chadwick saw a Golden Eagle at Finlaggan, Roger Broad noted a Red-throated diver off Port Charlotte and Jo Rosser-Owen reports a Tree Pipit from the Daill Farm area of Bridgend Woods.

Today David D. counted a flock of 23 Twite at Upper Killeyan. There were also several reports of Bottle-nosed Dolphins high up into Loch Indaal (I counted 5 at one point off Port Charlotte heading north). Rogan Wolhuter, coming over to Islay on the ferry had a selection of seabirds including a Red-throated diver and 2 Sandwich Terns. There were two pairs of Little Grebe with young on Loch Ballygrant.

Sunday 26th July

 Moderate Westerly  winds, rain and shine between.

Very few bird records in today. Jo Rosser-Owen recorded Great Spotted Woodpecker in Bridgend Woods - good to know they are still there. Roger Broad took and afternoon look at the top of Loch Indaal and noted  20 Shelducks, 120 Dunlin, 5 Sanderling, 1 Greenshank,

120 Bar-tailed Godwits and 25 Ringed Plovers. Up at Loch Gruinart there was another small group of 18 Black-tailed godwits freshly in.

Other, more sad news, was of a Minke Whale washed up dead on Machir Bay.

Friday 24th & Saturday 25th July

Variable weather with light to moderate winds from the west, some cloud, some rain and quite cool temperatures.

Yesterday David D. had an unseasonably large flock of c.100 Chaffinches feeding on a topped field at Kintra.

Today Simon Tardivel reports a couple of Chough at Ardnave and a White-tailed Eagle at Machir Bay. Clive McK. had a flock of 19 Black-tailed godwits in summery plumage coming n ew in to Loch Gruinart and Roger Broad and I had a further 7 arriving later in the afternoon. We also counted 145 Curlews and the Little Egret at Gruinart plus a Peregrine sat on the shoreline. In the same area, Bill Bealey saw the summering Whooper Swan, 50 Greylag Geese, and single Buzzard and Snipe from the North Hide.

There were 19 Tufted Ducks on Loch Gorm and over at Kildalton, Mary-Ann F.  had a family of Great Black-backed Gulls on the shore where the two families of Red-breasted Mergansers hang on, bravely defending their chicks.

Thursday 23rd July

Cloud and very light drizzle at times, with cooler temperatures, but sunny spells between and light winds.

David D. reports intermittent calling of Quail at times over the past several days at Kinnabus. Ed B. had 2 Choughs at Cornabus, seemingly attracted to a "sandy dung heap". Clive McK. noted the first returning/post-breeding Little Egret at Gruinart. Visitor Simon Tardivel sent in a list of 19 species noted whilst camping at Port Mor.

Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st & Wednesday 22nd July

Further quite pleasant weather - lots of sunshine, but light winds from the north at times cooling temperatures and bringing intermittent cloud and very light attempts at rain on a few occasions.

Again, there has been very little bird news reported. Tom Pope sent in a note of a White-tailed Eagle at Lagavulin on Sunday. Also on Sunday, an Islay Facebook posting mentioned a possibly injured immature Golden Eagle along the Killinallan road on Sunday, but there has been no further news of it.

On Monday Jo Rosser-Owen noted Bullfinch in Bridgend Woods and today Ed B. reports a White-tailed Eagle chasing Greylag Geese - a staple of their diet here I imagine.