Friday 29th November

Not a lot of bird news today, not helped by the strong south to southeast wind and quite a lot of rain, though that didn't deter the indefatigable Gary, who found 30+ Pale-bellied Brent at Blackrock.

Morven Laurie of NatureScot kindly sent through the results of the first goose census of the winter, which took place on 26th and 27th. The whole island was covered on both days by six teams of counters and the average of the two counts is taken. The totals were 29,880 Barnacles, 4183 Greenland Whitefronts and 1598 Greylags. The comparable figures from this time last year were 27,069, 3948 and 1393. An increase in Barnacle numbers fits with the slightly better breeding success the birds experienced last summer, with about 8–10% young in the flocks compared with only 3.5% in 2023. The Whitefronts do not appear to have bred well (preliminary samples so far suggesting less than 5%) and their numbers, not just on Islay but of the entire population which winters in the UK and Ireland, are causing concern. Our thanks to Morven and the team of counters for this information.