Friday 28th March

A quite cold day with blustery winds from the north-west and occasional sleety downpours between bright sunshine.

An extra record of 25+ Sand Martins over Loch Skerrols yesterday came in from Nigel Scriven who also noted the following for today: White-tailed Eagle adult Kildalton Chapel, Çlaggain Bay 2 Shelduck, 2 Great Northern Diver, Ardtalla Farm fields 33 Golden Plover, 17 Ringed Plover, plus uncountable mixed flock of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks.

Andrew Whitehouse saw the first White Wagtail for Islay o 2025 today at Machir Bay. 

Other than that, there were no sightings sent in today until the afternoon, so I was going to have to make do with mention of the 40 Goldfinches on my feeders supplemented by 20-25 at Malcolm O's further along in Bruichladdich and the 15 or so at Val Peacock's feeders in Port Charlotte.

Then a message came in this afternoon from Fiona McG. of a PIED CROW at Portnahaven that had been there apparently for a few days feeding on suet in people's back gardens! This is an odd record to say the least as Pied Crow is native to sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and some of the Indian Ocean islands and not on the British List. Outside of the species' native area there has been presumed genuine vagrancy in N. Africa and the Middle East, but most that have rarely been found in Europe have been considered escapees (quite a few are apparently kept in captivity) or ship-assisted birds. I think the first British record that wasn't traced back to being an escapee was in summer 2018, and that wandered widely across the UK - but that bird is still, I believe, "in limbo" as far as its status.

However, there has been a recent flurry of records in UK and elsewhere in Europe in 2025, with 2-3 still present over a long period of time in Ireland and the Scilly Isles, these individuals also wandering quite long distances with the latter thought to now be in Northern France.

Whatever the verdict (wild or escapee) on this and the current birds elsewhere in the UK, it is a fascinating record, a first for Argyll and I'll be on a twitch to Portnahaven tomorrow morning! Here are a couple of photos courtesy of Mary Redman: