Saturday 31st October

Moderate to light winds with plenty of cloud and drizzle at times.

Mike Bell got "Bird of the Day" by sighting a drake American Wigeon from the north hide at RSPB Gruinart this morning. He also found 3 Gadwall, 54 Shoveler, 9 Black-tailed Godwits, 57 Snipe, Hen Harrier and 4 immature White-tailed Eagles perched in front of the hide in the afternoon. Elsewhere he found a Kingfisher at the mouth of the river Sorn and a Goosander and Grey Wagtail from the bridge over the river at Bridgend. Finally there was a Peregrine and 4 Yellowhammers at Gartnatra and an immature Golden Eagle at Boricill Mor.

Other birders in different parts of the island have also been busy. Rogan W. watched over the Sound of Islay from Port Askaig again this morning with the prize of a late dark phase Arctic Skua which went south then diverted to cross Jura. He also sent in the two delightful photos of Brambling. Martin Armstrong noted a Barnacle Goose with neck collar and colour rings that Ed B. reckons is from the breeding population in Iceland. Steve Percival notes that the Cackling Goose is now on stubble fields at Eorrabus near the entrance to Esknish.  Rogan watched 2 quite vocal White-tailed Eagles near Port Askaig while Mick Durham had 2 others perched in conifers above Port Ellen bay and confirms the Snow Goose still at Cornabus. Rogan also had  5 Bullfinches, a Grey Wagtail  plus a large flock of 50+ Redpolls all near Lily Loch.

Friday 30th October

Breezy from the SE, but dry and fairly sunny.

Single Bramblings were seen by Rogan W. south of Port Askaig (photo below) and by James H. in the woodland at Gruinart. Rogan also 27 Redwing in the same area and a Yellowhammer at Storakaig. Ed B. noted that the Snow Goose was still at Cornabus while Audrey and Bob Turner located the Red-breasted Goose in the RSPB's fields on the road leading up to the Visitor Centre. Mick Durham was back on Islay with the second Naturetrek group of the autumn and recorded Golden Eagle near Coullabus. Mike Bell had a high count of 40 siskins at the Woollen Mill, 37 Redwing and 6 Yellowhammers at Octavulin and a total of 4 Hen Harriers - two each at Sanaigmore and Borichill Mor.

Thursday 29th October

A basically dry, sunny at times day with light to moderate winds from a more southerly/ south-easterly direction.

Not a great amount of bird news posted today. Ed B. reported that the Snow goose had left Leorin and turned up at his farm at Cornabus. Mandy H. saw 11 adult and 9 young Whooper Swans in stubble fields near Rock Mountain. Rogan W. took a look at birds travelling south down the Sound of Islay in the afternoon, noting amongst other species 13 Kittiwakes, single Great Northern Diver and Black-headed Gull, 58 Shags and a Buzzard again seen flying from Jura to Islay.

Mike Bell sent in his notes for today, being pleased to have seen all 8 regular raptor species in one day - both eagles, Hen Harrier, a total of 13 Buzzards, plus Kestrel, Peregrine, Merlin and Sparrowhawk. Mike also counted a substantial number of Whoopers in the Kilchoman/Loch Gorm area - 156 in all.

Yesterday I commented on the number of Barn Owls being seen during the day and the attacks on them by Peregrine and White-tailed Eagle. Paul Handyside sent in his unique photos of the attack by the White-tailed Eagle, firstly the owl and the eagle, then the confrontation between the two:

Wednesday 28th October

A dry, but damp and cloudy day with much lighter winds - almost pleasant after the previous few days of storms and rain!

Not too much reported today, though I believe the Red-breasted Goose was seen at Gruinart.

David D. reports a male Bullfinch at Kinnabus and Clive McK. had a Coal Tit in his garden up at Creag Mhor - first of the autumn. Rogan W. had 2+ Bramblings with Chaffinches in the woodland behind Dunlossit and 2+ Water Rails calling close to the track leading down to Lily Loch from the road. Loch Indaal was covered in thousands of Barnacle Geese on the flats this morning, and with them a discrete group of 9 large/feral Canada Geese.

Mike Bell sent in some interesting records - single Gadwall and 2 Goldeneye at Ardnave Loch. At Traigh Nostaig were single Merlin and Grey Plover and 52 Bar-tailed Godwits. Off Ardnave point were 10 Great Northern Divers and a White-tailed Eagle coming over from Nave Island. There were 2 Hen Harriers at Coullabus, another at Sanaigmore with another Merlin. Cherckling out Loch Skerrols he found the Ring-necked Duck among 68 Tufted Ducks.

In the morning Audrey & Bob Turner saw a Barn Owl near the road at Gruinart, and Clive saw one hunting at Lyrabus. There have been a number of day time sightings recently suggesting that their feeding patterns have been messed up with this horrible weather? On Sunday Neil McMahon saw a Peregrine going after, and hitting if not actually catching a flushed Barn Owl at the RSPB Gruinart viewpoint. Today Mike Bell saw another day-time hunting Barn Owl at Blackpark/Blackrock and Paul Handyside got some remarkable photos of yet another Barn Owl (or is it the same unfortunate individual?) out in the daytime and being caught/nearly caught by an immature White-tailed Eagle. Paul is hoping to share the photos with the group in due course.

Tuesday 27th October

Winds still very blustery and gone more to the west again as the low pressure systems pile through. Mostly grey and rainy, but a period of bright sunny weather with isolated heavy downpours in the middle of the day.

Mike Bell, arrived recently and mentioned the following birds of note today: 116 Whoopers around Kilchoman, 101 Pintail, 41 Shoveler, c.1,500 Teal and a single Gadwall on the floods at RSPB Gruinart.

Steve Percival found the Red-breasted Goose at Gruinart and I noted the SDnow Goose still in the same fields at Leorin during the morning.  Further Whoopers were 36 at the top of Loch Indaal and 10 at Loch Kinnabus (3 young) c/o David D. Mary R. had a male Hen Harrier at Tormisdale and 3 Choughs at Claddach.

Below are some further great photos from Neil McMahon's recent Naturetrek tour here.

Monday 26th October

The winds decreased a little and turned generally southerly/south-easterly, but it was an overcast, almost solidly rainy dark and dreary day!

Mary-Ann Featherstone reports that the Snow Goose was still present yesterday.

As usual, Rogan W. set things off with a count of 63 Shags and 12 Greenland White-fronts heading south down  the Sound of Islay, while Ed B. kept us updated on the tagged (at Cornabus) Greenland White-front flying towards us from Iceland. It did indeed go too far south, reoriented to the Kintyre peninsula and may yet make it to Islay! (Photo below).

Frank Cavanagh set off by ferry to the mainland this morning having a productive sea-watch along the way: singles of Little Gull and Pomarine Skua, 4 Leach's Storm-Petrel and 3 Little Auks. Nick Martin was pleased to find Merlin near Gartnatra - the last raptor to complete his Islay list for this visit. Down at Claddach, Mary R. had 12 White-fronts over the house early on followed by a family of low-flying Whoopers - possibly the 6 she saw in Claddach loch later.

Neil McMahon's Naturetrek group also exited today, sending in this last report of 34 Whoopers at Kilchoman with a single Pink-footed Goose, several more Whooper families on Loch Gorm and on on the stubble field with another lone Pink-footed Goose at Ballinaby. Up at Ardnave they counted 35 Choughs, a male Hen Harrier and a Little Grebe. Off Carnain and Gartnatra in Loch Indaal Nick found 20 Red-breasted Mergansers, 12 Brent Geese, 27 Whooper Swans, 2 Red-throated divers and 2 Black Guillemots. On his ferry journey back to the mainland Neil's group encountered a Storm-petrel, 12 Great Northern Divers, 40 Kittiwakes and a handful of Gannets and auks at the south of the Sound of Islay.

Many thanks to Frank and Neil for their sterling efforts in birding in such dodgy weather and for contributing their records to the group and blog. Here are some photos sent in by Neil from his visit.

Sunday 25th October

Another day of Storm Beolo producing extremely strong, gale-force or more winds, from a WNW direction with plenty of heavy rain between patches of clearer weather.

Several of the more intrepid birders ventured out and found some interesting birds despite horrible conditions. Rogan W. set out this morning finding White-tailed Eagles over the Woollen Mill and Loch Skerrols where he scored bird of the day - a 1W Ring-necked Duck with the Tufties. Later he noticed a Greenshank off the Gaelic College where a Great Skua was being blown about Loch Indaal.

The strong NW winds were blowing one of ED B.'s radio-tagged Greenland White-fronted Geese fast towards (or just past) Islay from Greenland as can be seen from the map tracking its course.

Neil McMahon witnessed a sad event with a Barn Owl flushed from gorse bushes at Gruinart and being struck by a Peregrine - the owl escapes but the final outcome not known. Neil also noted c.85 Whooper Swans close to Kilchoman distillery - a favourite spot for these passage birds to linger and feed this autumn. A further c.40 Whoopers were seen by his group at Gruinart, with 7 (3 adults and 4 young) c/o David D. at Kinnabus and, rather bizarrely, 19 sat on a raging sea off Frenchman's Rocks when Clive McK. braved a sea-watch this afternoon for an hour. Clive's fortitude produced 1,165 Kittiwakes and 3 Black-headed Gulls, but little else and confirms that this masochistic pastime is better done on Tiree where 24 Grey Phalaropes, single Sooty Shearwater and Pomarine Skua and 5 Little Auks were highlights offshore today!

Other stuff: Rogan finished the day with a group of 14 Long-tailed Tits and the first Brambling at Dunlossit Cottages. Mary R. had a Snow Bunting down at Claddach and Frank Cavanagh saw an "interesting female/ringtail type harrier all too briefly, that put him in mind of perhaps a Pallid - something for birders to keep an eye out for tomorrow............