Tuesday 21st & Wednesday 22nd January

Two more pleasant winter days - some rain this morning, but otherwise quite light winds, dry and sunny at times. It is difficult to believe that we are supposedly in for a really ferocious storm on Friday!

Birding news yesterday was the re-sighting of the Cackling Goose over at Cornabus by Ed Burrell - it hasn't been seen in weeks, but then, nobody has gone looking for it.

Billy Stitchell commenting on his feeders up at Caol Ila said that there was "not a lot of activity", mentioning 6 Siskins amongst other things. Well it is all relative, as I was delighted to have the first Siskin ever on my feeders here at Bruichladdich this morning.

Clive McK. was watching a lovely pair of Bullfinches eating the first buds on Willow up at Creag Mhor today and Mandy H. commented that she had watched the same up at Carnduncan today.

James H. had been out counting geese around Gruinart today and noted 5 White-tailed Eagles, 2 Golden Eagles, a Merlin, Peregrine and Hen Harrier plus the Green-winged Teal still with us.

Sunday 19th & Monday 20th January

Two further days of dry, not too cold or windy weather with splashes of sunshine between the clouds.

Despite OK sort of weather, there is nothing startling to report. Nobody is out there birding - myself included as I rush to try to get my book on the birds of Islay and Jura ready to send off to be type-set before I head out for 3 weeks to Tanzania when Malcolm O. will be taking over the blog in my absence.

However, in response to the note about Goldfinches at bird feeders, Billy Stitchell up at Caol Ila kindly wrote in with the following:

"Have had about 15-20 Goldfinch for the past week, nothing today though, just the normal Blue & Great Tits, 2 Coal Tit’s in and out at high speed. Nice to see a few Siskins feeding, not seen them for a while! Even the Wren has been checking out the feeder!? About 6 Dunnock feeding on the ground from the spill from the feeder. Two pair of Bullfinch striping the new growth in the garden"

So that adds a little to the known Goldfinch population of Islay, though I'm sure there are plenty of others on Islay with feeders where Goldfinches are present? (Incidentally, 6 Dunnocks and two pairs of Bullfinches are both quite good records for two species that people rarely mention or note!).

Thursday 16th, Friday 17th & Saturday 18th January

 Three days of fairly cloudy, but dry weather, with a light cool breeze. I was out with David Jardine briefly on Thursday morning, watching up at Killinallan we saw a Peregrine nip through and found 3 immature White-tailed Eagles sat on the flats, where c.65 Shelduck fed. 

On Friday David D. had a Merlin at Kinnabus.

Today, as David Jardine left he noted 14 Brent Geese on Glas Eilean, off Jura, while back on Islay Mary R. had a Dipper on the River Sorn at Bridgend and Clive McK. noted a decent number of Knot - 109 in total along with 70 Dunlin from Gartnatra on Loch Indaal.

Here in Bruichladdich Malcolm O. and I were trading Goldfinches! I had about 25 as usual on my feeders this morning until they'd eaten most of the food provided by about 1pm. At this time Malcolm O.'s feeders along the village about 300 m away suddenly had an influx of about 20 Goldfinches - smart birds! There were a further c.30 Goldfinches on Val Peacock's feeders at Port Charlotte, but whilst we assume that it is the same birds going back and forth in Bruichladdich, we also assume that Val's birds are different. It would be interesting to know how many Goldfinches are turning up regularly at other feeders around Islay - the total amount could be "the best part of a tidy few".

Tuesday 14th & Wednesday 15th January

Two days with moderately OK weather - light winds, cool but not freezing and with some good amounts sunshine.

Yesterday Ed B. down at Loch Cornabus found a 2CY Mediterranean Gull - only the 7th for Islay, all of them occurring since 2010.

Today David Jardine was over on Jura and reports 2 Brent Geese at Eilean Glas, 4 Greenshanks at Loch Tarbert. Fieldfares and Redwings present. Of most interest were singing Crossbills at Camas an Staca and Loch a' Mhuillin. Many of us might be familiar with the "chip-chip" flight calls that Crossbills make; their song is less often noted but sounds a bit like those "chip" calls, but with short trills added at the end. They are a very early breeding species and the conifers have a lot of cones this year to tempt them, so maybe we should all be out exploring Islay's plantation forestry to see if we can hear one - it is often the best suggestion/proof of nesting that you'll get.

Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th & Monday 13th January

The weather has changed back from cold, with crisp, fairly calm and sunny days, to fairly mild, damp and rainy with a bit more breeze.

Regardless of what the weather was doing, very few of us were out looking at birds. Mary Redman reported 4 Snipe at Claddach on Saturday. Clive McK. was at the top of Loch Indaal doing a WeBS count on a very rainy Sunday. He counted 26 Brent Geese and 12 Long-tailed Ducks near Blackrock where a couple of White-tailed Eagles dropped in and perched up.

Today David Jardine was on the ferry to Islay and scored 2 Little Auks SE of Texa (there were no records of Little auk for Islay last year). Later, at Bowmore he found a female Scaup and then 5 Goosanders on Loch Skerrols - there have only been 3 other records involving that many together on Islay. As I write this David has posted a photo of an even rarer bird - a Stock Dove with a flock of Wood Pigeons at Sunderland Farm (spot it in the photo below). There are just 12 accepted records for Islay from 1977 to 2022, with all but two birds seen since 2002. All records have been on the Rhinns or The Oa, nine of these being single birds, with groups of four and five seen at Sanaigmore in March 2015 and 2016. There are four records from February-March, two in June and five in September-October, plus an undated record from the 2007/08 to 2010/11 Winter Atlas.

Thursday 9th and Friday 10th January

Two days of cold northerly weather, but nice and sunny with light winds and probably the lowest temperatures of the winter so far.

On Thursday George Jackson noted a Red-throated Diver off Bruichladdich still sporting a red-throat of breeding plumage. Up at Blackrock, Fiona McG. took another look in lovely calm sea conditions and found 13 Long-tailed Ducks and 8 Red-breasted Mergansers.

Ed Burrell reported on a first recovery of a Snipe he ringed at Cornabus in December 2022 which had been shot at Cragabus on 7th January this year. He wondered whether it was a returning wintering bird or one of the local breeders?

The White-tailed Eagle pair were on Blackrock again yesterday, but not seen there by Clive McK. today. The cold weather has made the bird feeders very attractive with c.25 Goldfinch enjoying the free hand-out today in my garden.

Monday 6th, Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th January

Weather on Monday and Tuesday was variable with some cloud and icy showers between sunnier spells. There were no bird sightings for either day.

Today was brighter, sunnier, drier and calmer, but still quite cold. David D. reports a Blackcap over at Kinnabus (is it the same bird that had been over at Caol Ila in December?) and a Whooper Swan on the loch there. The calm waters of Loch Indaal encouraged Fiona McG. to take a look off Blackrock where 2 White-tailed eagles seem to be appearing regularly these days. On the waters around were 6 Long-tailed Ducks, c.8 Red-breasted Mergansers, c.6 Goldeneye and 11 Brent Geese. Mary R. had also been looking out over Loch Indaal in the morning where she noted a "huge pod" of dolphins splashing about off Octofad, from where they didn't seem to come any further up the loch.