Thursday 18th September

Yesterday evening, Louise heard a Nightjar at The Gatehouse over on Jura. Some news through from Peter this evening re the Pale bellied goose which he saw down at Portnahaven a couple of days ago. It appears that the goose was first rung as a first year bird up in Iceland back the Spring of 2009. It has been seen wintering in the Strangford Loch area in Northern Ireland over thae past few winters and was seen this Spring back in Iceland. By the sound of things, a first record of this goose here on Islay! Peter saw 4 Red throated Divers over at Claggain Bay this afternoon. There were 13 Mute Swans on Loch Indaal, between Gatmain and the Gaelic College. On the reserve at Gruinart, James had seen a Barn owl, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and 2 Grey Wagtails. On our travels today, we saw a total of 5 Wheatears all individual birds at different locations, and also a stunning male Stonechat flew across the road as we came towards the gravel quarry at Sunderland.