Sunday, 16 February 2025

Sunday 16th February

 Another day with a light to moderate breeze, with rain coming in towards the late afternoon evening.

A note came in today from Mary-Ann Featherstone of a Great Spotted Woodpecker over at Kildalton on 7th February - always good to have records of this species to try and assess if the small population that has fairly recently colonised Islay is still holding its own.

Fiona McG. reports 36 Brent Geese over on Jura yesterday at Glas Eilean.

Olivier and Edgar Joly were up at Loch Gruinart this morning, first finding Peregrine near the Visitor centre then the Red-breasted Goose further north up the loch, with an adult and young White-tailed Eagle flushing the Barnacle Geese. A little later they had a Brent Goose north of Bruichladdich and 2 White-tailed Eagles over Loch Skerrols.

Steve Percival is back on the island and found a Russian White-fronted Goose at the end of the Corsapol track.

John Matthews over at Bowmore had both Red-throated and Black-throated Divers, then a male and 2 female Goosanders on Loch Skerrols. Later they found a male Hen Harrier at Sanaigmore and female Sparrowhawk between Gruinart and Loch Gorm.

Steve Williams found 2 immature White-tailed Eagles and an immature Golden Eagle towards Ardnave and a Greenshank at Bowmore.

I saw two immature White-tailed Eagles making their way down the coast from Bruichladdich to Port Charlotte at lunch time, making it quite likely that a total of 6 were seen today.

Saturday, 15 February 2025

Saturday 15th February

Winds still from the east, but dry and not quite so cold today.

Clive McK. sent in a video clip of a very white winged Barn Owl hunting at Eresaid yesterday afternoon.

Olivier Joly was watching 11 Choughs up beyond Ardnave this morning while Chris Mills was at Machair Bay with 12 Gannets, 6 Kittiwakes, 3 Red-throated Divers and 8 Black Guillemots offshore, plus a further 2 Choughs in the dunes and a young White-tailed Eagle in the area.

John Matthews was finding plenty of eagles - 2 Golden at Tynacoille and another at Kilchoman, with a White-tailed at Loch Gorm. He also had a male Hen Harrier near the RSPB Visitor Centre in the afternoon. Up at Ardnave in the later afternoon he found the flock of Choughs - 30 in all, plus 5 whooper Swans, 6 Goldeneye and 6 Tufted Ducks on the loch.

Steve Williams also had 2 White-tailed Eagles up at Gruinart, another Hen Harrier by Eresaid then 3 Bullfinch and a Dipper in Bridgend Woods, finishing with a Barn Owl between Bridgend and Bowmore this evening.

I took a walk around Loch Skerrols in the afternoon finding it completely free of Tufted Ducks, but with 2 female-type Goosanders and a drake Goldeneye in residence.

Friday 14th February

A cold, blustery wind from the SE and rainy at times.

All today's records came from our valued visiting birders. John Matthews had a Golden Eagle at Finlaggan and 4 White-tailed Eagles at Bunnahabhain. Chris Mills noted plenty of waders on Loch Indaal including 2 Greenshank, 300 Bar-tailed Godwits, 200 Knot and his first (6) Sanderling of his week-long visit. There was also a Brent Goose with the Barnacle Geese. Newly arrived Olivier Joly had a variety of birds up at Gruinart - further Greenshank and 2 White-tailed Eagles included.

Thursday, 13 February 2025

Thursday 13th February

 A light, but cold breeze on a dry slightly cloudy day.

Many thanks to Malcolm O. for keeping the blog going these last three weeks when there has been a lot of activity and bird news to report. Today there were only a couple of messages: 2 large canadensis type Canada Geese in the bay at Port Ellen this morning seen by Nick Parsons and a note from Chris Mills from Finlaggan of 4 Crossbills (including a perched male), 2 Redpolls, 2 White-tailed Eagles and a Golden Eagle.

Wednesday, 12 February 2025

Wednesday 12th February 2025

Still a bit cold and overcast with a persistent easterly wind. The day started with yet more geese, with 13 Pale-bellied Brents (just 1 first-winter) seen at Blackrock by Nick Parsons, quickly followed by him spotting 2 Russian White-fronted Geese at Gruinart. These turn up fairly regularly having strayed north from the flocks that winter in southern England. Chris Mills was back at Ardnave watching 2 White-tailed Eagles  and an immature Golden Eagle showing well just short of Ardnave Loch, while, at Ardnave Point, he saw 2 Purple Sandpipers, 4 Grey Plovers and  3 Choughs, with a further 14 Choughs in the dunes.

Some collared Greenland Whitefronts were reported from different places, including one ringed at Loch Ken, Wigtonshire, back in 2008-9, which turned up here two years later and has been regularly wintering on Islay ever since.

Clive McK had a count of 177 Shelduck on Gruinart estuary in good counting light, while Henry Wyn-Jones saw what he described as the smaller of the two Cackling Geese at Kinnabus, and Chris Mills had a male Merlin on the south side of Loch Gorm, as well as 20 Skylarks and 12 Reed Buntings on barley stubble, later passing on a sighting by someone else of 100+ Skylarks on the Gruinart flats. The sighting of two Greenfinches in Port Ellen by Tony Parsons is sadly of an increasingly rare bird here. Finally, a Barn Owl was seen on The Oa by Nick Parsons and another between Bridgend and Bowmore by Chris Mills. Our best estimate is that there are about 25 pairs on the island, which have been helped over the years by the number of of ruined cottages and farm buildings.

Today's cracking photo is of a Russian White-fronted Goose seen and photographed by Joe Graham at Killinallan on 9th February and quite probably different from the two at Gruinart this morning.


 

Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Tuesday 11th February 2025

 Another dry but cold overcast day, with the easterly wind keeping the temperature at or below 6 Celcius. Bird records are well down on recent days, but a pair of Goosanders seen by Chris Mills on Loch Skerrols is quite unusual, while at the same time a pair of White-tailed Eagles were feeding on a carcase on the far shore. My apologies to Chris for spelling his name wrong yesterday. He later saw 2 immature Golden Eagles and 2 ring-tailed Hen Harriers at Ardnave, a male Gadwall on the east shore of Loch Gruinart, and, earlier, a Dipper on the River Sorn at the Woollen Mill.

Nick Parsons found a Cackling Goose on the sandflats at Bridgend among sleeping Barnacle Geese, a sure sign they've been night-feeding under the moon. Later on, the flock woke up and headed north towards Ballygrant.

Finally, Clive McK had a substantial flock of 800+ Lapwings flying around over the Gruinart flats.

Here is the latest Cackling Goose, with apologies to anyone who is bored with them.


 

 

 

Monday 10th February 2025

Another fairly cold but often sunny day with an east wind. Lance Degnan sent in some records from yesterday, of 13 Long-tailed duck off Blackrock area plus 2 White-tailed Eagles, 12 Chough at Sanaigmore, plus 4 or 5 round Loch Gorm, and, at Gruinart, 5 Little Egrets  and a Carrion Crow, the first for quite a while.

First thing this morning, regular visitor, Chris Mills, spotted 2 White-tailed Eagles sitting on the the Loch Indaal shoreline opposite the entrance to Whin Park, and, a little later, the Red-breasted Goose was seen again, by Henry Wyn-Jones, this time behind Loch Gruinart House. 

The afternoon was mostly taken up with discussion of Canada Geese and Canada Goose X Barnacle Goose hybrids! This was started by Dave W seeing a Cackling Goose at Kinnabus, while, at almost the same, Chris Mills found a hutchinsi type among the Barnacles at Gruinart. Will Scott responded to my question yesterday asking whether there were two Canada X Barnacle hybrids by helpfully pointing out differences between the one seen yesterday at Pennycraig and the one he saw and photographed at Gruinart.

Finally, Chris Mills sent in some nice records of other birds seen during the day, with, at the head of Indaal, 20 Long-tailed Ducks, 12 Slavonian Grebes, 60 Common Scoters, 60 Eiders, and 10 Great Northern and 3 Red-throated Divers. At Gruinart, he saw a male Hen Harrier, no less than 5 White-tailed Eagles perched on the flats and the Red-Breasted Goose, while, at Sanaigmore, there were 3 Golden Eagle, 2 adults and an immature, and 12 Choughs. 

Here's the hutchinsi type Canada Goose.


 

 

Sunday, 9 February 2025

Sunday 9th February 2025

 A lovely sunny day after a frost, gradually clouding up in the afternoon. Not many records received today, but Lance Degnan found the Red-breasted Goose at Gruinart again, just along the lane towards Craigens, while Patrick Cavanagh found a Cackling Goose X Barnacle Goose at Pennycraig between Bridgend and Bowmore (see photo). It isn't that usual for geese to move between Gruinart and Loch Indaal, particularly as the winter progresses, so do we have two here, or just the one? 

 


 Patrick Cavanagh also had some good news today. The Pallid Swift which he and Jacob New saw at Coullabus near Gruinart on 9th November last year has been accepted by the British Birds Rarities Committee. This was not only a first record for Islay, but for Argyll, too.

This is a photo of the Pallid Swift taken by Jacob New.


Saturday, 8 February 2025

Saturday 8th February 2025

Will Scott ended his week on a high, spotting the Cackling Goose that Ed has been seeing at Cornabus and Ballivicar, but this time at Leorin, on his way to the ferry. So, he saw all three unusual geese that are wintering here and had a total of 109 species in the week. On the way back to Kennacraig, he had lots of Divers off and in West Loch Tarbert, including 51 Great Northern, 18 Black-throated and 9 Red-throated, plus 5 Slavonian Grebes.

Our other visiting birder, Lance Degnan, kindly sharing his sightings was at Loch Indaal in the late afternoon seeing 72 Common Scoters, 11 Long-tailed Ducks, 9 Slavonian Grebes and 21 Light-bellied Brent Geese.

 Thanks, both.

Other sightings received were of a White-billed Diver seen well from the ferry by Peter Cavanagh near the mouth of West Loch Tarbert, a "HUGE" first-year White-tailed Eagle flying inland over Mary R's house in Port Wemyss, and Collared Doves taking nesting materials into gorse bushes at the back of Gary T's house near Ballygrant.

 

Friday, 7 February 2025

Friday 7th February 2025

A sunny day with, at times, a coldish easterly wind, but otherwise very pleasant for Will Scott on his last full day here when he ended with a bang - sighting the wintering Red-breasted Goose among the Barnacle Geese on the Gruinart Flats. This is the first report on the blog since 20th November, though apparently a sighting of it on 29th December was posted on the BirdGuides website by someone who, sadly, presumably didn't know about this blog. Not content with this find, Will also spotted a Cackling Goose X Barnacle Goose at Gruinart hybrid, likely the one that was seen there back in early November.

Additional highlights from Gruinart by Will this morning included 4000 Barnacle Geese, 35 Pintails, 1,000 Golden Plovers, 74 Redshanks, 150 Dunlins, at least 2 White-tailed Eagles, Golden Eagle, Merlin, Peregrine, Chough, 2 Little Egrets, 16 Fieldfares and a Yellowhammer.

I missed a report by Will of a Great Spotted Woodpecker yesterday at Trudernish, but was reminded by a record of one today at Balaclava from Ed B. Presumably they are beginning to be a bit noisy!

In the early afternoon, Lance Degnan carried out the circular walk on The Oa and saw 50 Twite by the car park, 2 Stonechats, and "a magnificent 4 White-tailed Eagles circling over the American Monument, later joined by 2 Golden Eagles". At much the same time, Will was back at Bowmore where he counted 29 Common Scoters, 3 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Goldeneyes, 5 Slavonian Grebes, 3 Red-throated Divers (1 looking ill heading towards the harbour) and 3 Greenshanks, which flew up the Loch towards Bridgend. A little later, there were 4 Greenshanks off Gartnatra, presumably involving the 3 that flew past Bowmore.

Finally, Lance went to Gruinart and duly found the Red-breasted Goose. Here are two photographs, supplied by Will Scott, of the Redbreast and the Cackling X Barnacle hybrid.

Many thanks, Will, for these and for all the records you've supplied this week. It gives us locals satisfaction when visiting birders, often coming a long way, have a good time here.



 

Thursday 6th February 2025

A much better day, with sunshine and lighter winds. Will Scott saw yet more Fieldfares, including 35 at Cornabus, where he also had 3300 Barnacle Geese, and 50 near Duich along the Low Road, while 2 Woodcocks flew out of the woods near Corrary. He then did a count of the birds on the mud/water of Loch Indaal at Gartnatra, which included 19 Greylags, 12 Light-bellied Brent Geese, 150 Wigeon, 130 Golden Plovers, 50 Bar-tailed Godwits, 91 Knots, and 120 Dunlins. He also spotted a single Light-bellied Brent among 1000 Barnacles at Carrabus. His final observation of the day was a flock of 38 Twites in the RSPB's carpark on The Oa.

Newly arrived visitor, Lance Degnan, did well in the late afternoon at Gruinart seeing 3 Whooper Swans, 2 Golden Eagles, a Sparrowhawk and a male Hen Harrier, and 150 Fieldfares.


Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Wednesday 5th February 2025

I think Will Scott has had a good day's birding. The weather was mixed, with some prolonged showers in the morning, brightening and drying up in the afternoon. Will started his day with 12 Great Northern Divers in Kilnaughton Bay and an Otter in the area of Carraig Fhada lighthouse, together with no less than 17 Song Thrushes in a small patch of bushes by the cemeteries near Kilnaughton Beach. Going round the Rhinns, there were yet more Fieldfares, 40, near Cultoon, and 12 Mistle Thrushes and 19 Reed Buntings at Gearach. There were 130 Fieldfares at Kilchoman, compared with 220 on Sunday, but 34 Blackbirds, confirming that there has been a recent movement by the thrush family, as Will has also been seeing Redwings round the island. Two Hen Harriers were also present at Kilchoman, while, back south at Cornabus, there were about 2000 Barnacle Geese and a lone Whooper Swan, as well two White-tailed Eagles. As the day ended, two Barn Owls were out hunting between Bowmore and Bridgend.

Will noted that one of the Song Thrushes he saw at Kilchoman beach was darker brown with blacker spots on the breast than the other birds present, and wondered if it could be hebrediensis, the race which occurs in the Outer Hebrides. Darker birds like this have been seen on Islay from time to time, but, while it is possible that this race does turn up here, there has been a suggestion that they may be intermediates between hebrediensis and clarkei, the race which breeds here and is found over most of the UK and on the near continent. Will contrasted the dark bird with the hebrediensis with many of the other Song Thrushes, and other seen around the island, which looked cold and grey, suggesting a continental origin, probably of the race philomelos.

I'm appending Will's photograph, the bird in question being at top centre. What do you think?



Tuesday, 4 February 2025

 Tuesday 4th February 2025

Will Scott has once again produced the great majority of bird records. A Coot on Loch Skerrols is an uncommon bird, with rarely more than one or two seen each winter. Yet, in the early 1980s, as many as 50 were seen on a single loch. There were also 6 Goldeneye on the loch, while a Shelduck flew high to the NW and a male Hen Harrier also flew N. There was a single Pink-footed Goose with the Barnacle Geese north of Esknish and 10 Tufted Ducks on Loch Finlaggan, with two Crossbills in the trees close by. Looking across to Jura from Ardnahoe, Will spotted 4 White-tailed Eagles chasing each over on Jura. His flock of Fieldfares on Sunday weren't the only ones on the island, as 93 were foraging on the Gruinart Flats, there were 52 in fields near Loch Skerrols and 30 at Ardnave. This is many more than usually seen in winter. Also at Ardnave there were 41 Bar-tailed Godwits, 27+ Chough and an immature Golden Eagle.

Elsewhere on the island, Ed B. heard singing Mistle Thrushes at Cornabus and David W. saw an Iceland Gull flying over Giol on The Oa. Billy Stitchell in Caol Ila continues to attract birds to his garden feeders. For the past week, he's been feeding about 15-20 Goldfinches, was well as the "normal" Blue, Great and 2 Coal Tits, plus a few Siskins which he's not seen for a while. A Wren has apparently been checking the feeders (!) and 6 Dunnocks have been feeding on the spill from the feeder on the ground below. Meanwhile, two Bullfinches have been stripping the new growth in the garden.

Not on Islay, but certainly worth looking out for in the spring as the Barnacle Geese now in Ireland head north, is an albino Barnacle seen  last weekend in a flock of c.1000 at a haunt in the west of the country and reported to me by my good friend, Martin Enright. Such birds are very rare. I've not seen one as white as this for many years, though "washed-out" birds are seen a little more often.



 Monday 4th February 2025

Visiting birder, Will Scott, has provided us with these records for today, which was breezy with a fair amount of rain. On Loch Indaal, at Gartnatra, he saw some Light-bellied Brent Geese, 60 Bar-tailed Godwit, 120 Knot, and 100 Dunlin, and, off Bowmore, he found 5 Slavonian Grebes, a Great Northern Diver, 20 Common Scoter, and 5 Long-tailed Ducks, and there was also a Greenshank on the shore just east of the harbour. In addition to those, there were two White-tailed Eagles at Ballivicar, while the female Scaup was still present on Loch Skerrols. Thanks, Will.

Sunday, 2 February 2025

 Sunday 2nd February

Will Scott, on his first day here, covered quite a lot of ground and, despite the rather murky start to the day (though it improved a lot later on), has produced a nice list of sightings, beginning with a female Scaup, 3 Goldeneye, a Goosander, and a singing Mistle Thrush at Loch Skerrols, then, at Loch Gruinart, mostly seen from the hides, he had 32 Whoopers, 39 Pintail, 1100 Golden Plover, 6 Little Egret, 2 White-tailed Eagles, 2 Goldcrests, and a Grey Wagtail high up heading south. Later, near Kilchoman Distillery, he saw 220 Fieldfare, a very good number for the time of year as normally rather few winter here, a male Hen Harrier and 2 Chough. There were 46 Ringed Plover, 70 Curlew, 16 Turnstone, 5 Sanderling, 2 Purple Sandpiper, a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Peregrine and 2 Chough at Machir Bay, and, finally, there were 45 Eider, 40 Ringed Plover, Slavonian Grebe, and 5 Great Northern Divers on Loch Indaal, seen from the road round the head of the loch.


Here's a fine Gordon Langsbury photograph of a Fieldfare

 Saturday 1st February 2025

Some not quite Islay records have been sent in by visiting birder, Will Scott, on the ferry from Kennacraig this afternoon, from which he saw 21 Great Northern Divers (mostly near the mainland), 6 Black Guillemots, 7 Guillemots, 3 Kittiwakes and a Fulmar. He said he's looking forward to the next week on Islay and we wish him some very good birding while he's here.

Saturday, 1 February 2025

 Friday 31st January 2025

My apologies to George Jackson who, responding to my appeal for records at the beginning of the week, e-mailed some sightings to islaybirds@gmail.com which I forgot to check! And what's worse, he e-mailed them four days ago!

Anyway, on 27th January, he  saw an adult WT eagle west of the road below Ardnave, four Redwings flying out of trees near Rock Mountain on the Kilchoman road, and finally, on Loch Finlaggan, a single Whooper being harassed by two Mute swans.

Friday, 31 January 2025

 Tuesday 28th to Thursday 30th January 2025

Thank you, Clive McK, for contributing the first bird record this week! And it's an interesting one. From his house on the west side of Loch Gruinart, at sunrise on Thursday he spotted a pair of adult Great Black-backed Gulls to the ESE, high over the hills behind Corsapol (red pin on map). They were sticking very close together and flapping constantly all the way. Instead of dropping in at Gruinart, but they just carried on >WNW, eventually going out of sight over the hill towards Sanaig/Ardnave. As Clive says, one thinks of this species as being quite sedentary. This seemed an unusual flight line, from somewhere  in north-east Islay heading to the north-west.

I hope you all carried out the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch at the start of the week. I did mine, as usual, just after I had put out the food for them and had good totals of 55 House Sparrows, 43 Starlings, 22 Goldfinches, and 13 Collared Doves, as well as single figures of several other species. I am, though, surprised at how few Collared Doves I've fed this winter so far. Last year at this time it was 40-45, but the maximum this winter has been no more than 15. So, has anyone else noticed a big drop in dove numbers or, of course, a large increase?



Monday, 27 January 2025

 Friday 24th to Monday 27th January 2025

No sooner does Peter go away, leaving me to look after the blog, than the bird records dry up. There was a bit of an excuse on Friday what with Storm Eowyn blowing in with some force (maximum gust at the airport of 91 mph, somewhat less than forecast but still bringing down some trees, removing tiles from roofs and sheds from gardens, as well as, much worst of all, flooding parts of Port Ellen). I don't think the birds were staying indoors, but the birders very sensibly were, and no-one has posted anything for these four days. I am therefore reduced to informing the world that, with Peter away and not filling his feeders, I have benefited from more Goldfinches than usual at my bird table, to a maximum today of 22.

I hope for some more records tomorrow - please!

 

Thursday, 23 January 2025

 Thursday 23rd January 2025

The only bird records received today were from Morven Laurie of NatureScot sending the results of the goose census covering the whole island carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, 21st and 22nd January. The totals, averaging the counts of the two days, were 28,669 Barnacle Geese, 4066 Greenland Whitefronts and 1192 Greylags. The comparable count in December found 27,585 Barnacles, 4852 Whitefronts and 1434 Greylags. The drop in the Whitefront total is disappointing as this population is struggling, and not helped by there only being about 3.5% young in the flocks this winter, following a very poor breeding season in west Greenland. This is well below the 10+% needed just to stop the population declining further.

The weather today was bright and breezy from the south-west with occasional showers. The forecast for tomorrow is for Storm Eowyn to arrive in the very early morning with increasing storm-force south-west winds with gusts between 95 and 100 mph, the strongest being from about 9am to 2pm. Winds of this strength are not unheard of here but definitely rare and we must hope that any damage is limited. Please take great care if you venture outside.


Wednesday, 22 January 2025

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.

Monday, 20 January 2025

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!).

Saturday, 18 January 2025

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".


Wednesday, 15 January 2025

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.

Monday, 13 January 2025

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.



Friday, 10 January 2025

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.

Wednesday, 8 January 2025

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.

Sunday, 5 January 2025

Thursday 2nd, Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th January

Despite fairly pleasant, dry, sunny weather with light, but chilly winds from a more northerly direction (while lots of other places across the UK were inundated with snow and rain), there has been very little in the way of birding going on here on Islay - hence the long, 4 day silence.

On Thursday 2nd, visitor Anne Mehler had a Long-tailed Duck near Blackrock, plus c.50 Common Scoter. 

On Friday 3rd, Anne saw a White-tailed Eagle in the Sound between Islay and Jura as she departed. Also on the 3rd,  George Jackson had a quick look at Loch Skerrols at about mid-day, finding  a single male Goldeneye and single Moorhen, but there were only 7 Tufted Ducks, plus c.30 Mallard and Teal.

The bird feeder here in Bruichladdich and at Val Peacock's in Port Charlotte has been attracting a female Sparrowhawk regularly over the past few days - whether it is the same bird I've no idea.

Today, Mary R. had a Buzzard on the shoreline at Bruichladdich (where Malcolm O. watched an otter having breakfast) followed by a pair of adult  White-tailed Eagles perched on Blackrock itself.  Malcolm was out at Craigens on Loch Gruinart and counted 1,280 Golden Plover, 450 Dunlin and 180 Lapwing, all in the same damp pasture.

I walked up to Ballimony from Octofad this afternoon and watched a couple of Choughs followed by a further group of 7, all flying from the coast near Octofad inland along the edge of the forestry, with 5 turning back. I wonder what they were doing or where they were going..............



Wednesday, 1 January 2025

Tuesday 31st December 2024 & Wednesday 1st January 2025

 The last day of the year was another of unpleasant weather, but the New Year started brilliantly with, for much of the day, clear blue skies, dry and with light winds. But the wind had turned to a northerly, so it was decidedly colder than the previous couple of weeks.

The last bird records of 2024 were a male Hen Harrier seen by Pete Twist at Ballymeanach, a Greater Scaup still on Loch Skerrols noted by Ed B.. Mary R. saw 3 Gannets plus a few Kittiwakes off Frenchman's Rocks and a Peregrine nearby. I did a walk from the Woollen Mill to Daill House and found a flock of 16 Siskin and a scattering of 4 Bullfinches.  

Other late 2024 news includes a photo from Ed B. taken on a thermal imager of no less than 8 Woodcock feeding in an open field at Cornabus after dark a couple of days ago - a further clear indication of how incredibly under-recorded this species is. Malcolm O. sent in a Facebook post from Billy Stitchell saying that his male Blackcap which had been present on his feeders now for a couple of weeks has moved on, but he does have two Greenfinches present along with the more common bird table species.

The first records from Islay for 2025 are from the RSPB Gruinart hides where James H. and I watched for a while this afternoon. I counted the usual group of 38 Whooper Swans, while James H. recorded 2 Golden Eagles, 1 White-tailed Eagle, 2 Hen Harriers, 95 Dunlin, 7 Snipe and 2 Woodcock. James also managed to find the Green-winged Teal for me!

Louise Muir sent the first note from Jura - a photo of a Ban Owl on a garden fence at Craighouse.

WISHING ALL BLOG READERS A HAPPY, HEALTHY BIRD-FILLED 2025