Friday 7th & Saturday 8th August

Still a very strong contrast here to the drought and heatwaves of southern England and Wales! Winds swinging about and cloud coming and going, bringing increasing amounts of light rain with it - especially on Saturday.

Clive McK. sent in a record for Thursday of a Red-throated Diver feeding on Loch Finlaggan then taking off into the hills, returning 30 minutes later - an obvious sign of feeding young on one of the higher moorland lochs nearby.

Yesterday Rogan W. was birding his patch at Dunlossit and sent in some useful breeding records of Mute Swan with cygnets on Loch Ballygrant, where he also noted a Little Grebe and young Goldcrests.

Today he had Tawny Owls calling overnight, a Buzzard nesting along the Sound of Islay  near Port Askaig, where a family of Spotted Flycatchers was photographed.

Later he watched a White-tailed Eagle flying over to Islay from Jura.

Over at Ardilistry Bay David D. found a Little Egret and a Greenshank - an unusual place for these species more often found on Lochs Indaal and Gruinart.

Thursday 6th August

A slightly better day with no rain, winds dropping and sunshine increasing as the day progressed - until the evening when cloud and showers resumed.

Rogan W. reports a pair of Bullfinches at his home near Port Askaig, plus Great Spotted Woodpecker, 7 Siskins and families of fledged Great and Blue Tits.

Clive was also down at Port Askaig and noted good numbers of butterflies - 14 Red Admirals, 3 Peacocks, 2 Small Tortoiseshells and this Painted Lady.

Mary-Ann F. also reported lots of butterflies from her Kildalton garden - 20+ Peacocks, a few Painted Ladies, Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells and Whites. There was also a Hummingbird Hawk Moth on Buddleia.

Monday; 3rd, Tuesday 4th & Wednesday 5th August

Three days of changeable weather - generally changing for the worse! Winds going round to an easterly direction and increasingly strong by Wednesday, more cloud and increasing amounts of rain.

Further sightings from Sunday include 2 Little Egrets, a juvenile Peregrine, 2 Sandwich and 5 Common Terns noted by Clive McK.

Records for Monday come from Clive McK. and Mark Livingston who found a family of Tufted Ducks (8 well-grown ducklings with parent) on Ardnave Loch where there was also a family of Mute Swans with 4 cygnets. They also had a Greenshank on the west side of Ardnave and a juvenile Cuckoo by the Loch

On Tuesday Rogan Wolhuter watched 42+ Guillemots in the Sound of Islay by Port Askaig and Mark Livingston counted 200 Dunlin on Loch Indaal by the Gaelic College.

No sightings for Wednesday so far.

Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd August

Two further days of light westerly winds, mostly sunny.

Yesterday Rogan W. was up at Bunnahabhain finding a pair of Grey Wagtails with 2 young with a dark-phase Arctic Skua passing by. Today he was at Machir Bay in the afternoon where there were counts of 23 Ringed Plovers, 2 Dunlin, 13 Sanderling and two Wheatears - a couple of photos below.

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.