Wednesday 18th December

Yesterday James saw a Barn Owl when out and about...Today, he was out again and had seen the following birds...
2 White tailed Eagle,  present over Borichill Mor
male Merlin and male Hen Harrier Borichill Mor
White tailed Eagle, 2  at Gruinart
Golden Eagle at Gruinart
Black throated diver seen at Blackrock
Canada goose Hutchinsii and 3 Pale bellied Brent geese at Craigens
Little egret and 2 bullfinches on the reserve at Gruinart
27 Pale bellied Brent geese were seen at Blackrock.

Today, Gary had seen a Little Egret at Carnain/ Smelly corner, 18 Pale bellied Brent geese down beside Loch Gorm House at Bruichladdich. He also had 3 White tailed Eagles at Coultorsay as well.

Thursday 28th November

Happy birthday to my old mate Paul W. who today reached the heady age of the big 70... make the most of the next 70 years auld yin...

James yesterday had been out helping carrying out the first International Goose count of this season.. While he was out, he had the following birds seen by himself...At Craigens, he had seen a Todd's Canada goose , also present there was a Pink footed goose and also 2 Pale bellied Brent geese. Over at Carrabus, James had a Canada goose Hutchinsii sp.  Over Borachill Mor a Kestrel was seen while up at Killinallan, a White tailed Eagle was added to his birds seen... On the reserve at Gruinart, James had 3Grey Wagtails, a Merlin and also some Woodcocks.

Thursday 12th January

The spell of wintry weather continues, with even some snow which is relatively rare here on Islay. The lorries coming off the ferry at Port Askaig this morning had to wait for the road gritter to come and put some more grit on the road on the brae leading up the hill away from Port Askaig. It had been salted earlier on, but required more put on to make it safe for the lorries...

Earlier this week, James had seen a Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp along the flats at Gruinart. Today, down on the pools beside the cottages at Carnain/ Crosshouses, Margaret saw a Coot.

Tuesday 18th October

Some sightings in from Richard Scott from Chesterfield... On Friday he saw a Peregrine out from Whin Park, over at Bowmore a total of 6 Swallows were there. From Whin Park on Saturday, 4 Grey Plover were present. On Sunday , over behind Ballygrant he watched a Golden Eagle, 2 Raven and 2 Buzzards soaring around in the wind. Yesterday at Gruinart, he had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier, 80 Twite with a Goldcrest while on the Woodland trail. From the hides many duck around including Pintail, Teal & Wigeon seen, as were 4 Buzzards up in the windy conditions. Yesterday, we saw 9 Fieldfare over at Coull Farm, Michal had seen 4 at Gruinart Farm as well as a Grey Wagtail. Martin Armstrong had seen a Marsh Harrier as he watched the geese yesterday afternoon. Steve Percival had counted 2750 Barnies at Gruinart this morning with a further 800 counted at  Loch Indaal. Steve also had a Wheatear out on the dunes at Ardnave with a Common Scoter seen on Ardnave Loch. Peter Donaldson had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier close to Ballymeanach on the Rhinns. Peter Duncan arrived the other day from Glasgow, seeing 2 Peregrine at Port Askaig, a Merlin in the dunes behind Machir Bay and then a White tailed Eagle over at Ardbeg, a great start to his visit!! The tally for the geese, this evening through from James, was 6,500 Barnies, 2 Pinkies, 2 Pale bellied Brent, and 16 Greenland Whitefronts. A small Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp was seen by Bob late afternoon, James had also seen it as well. The Brambling was still present here at home, along with 31 House Sparrows and over 60 Goldfinches along with the Linnets and a Grey Wagtail noted down beside the stream.

Thursday 3rd March

It started off a not bad day with the weather, but as predicted it started to rain at 3pm exactly...This morning, we saw 3 Whoopers coming in from the sea, 68 Lapwing and 20 Curlew over at Coull Farm, on our way home there was a Golden Eagle soaring on thermals way above Rockside Farm. Chris Mills along with the team from Norfolk birding, also had a good day as well. They started off seeing 3 Fulmars along the Kilchoman crag. Down towards Machir Bay, close to the stock feeders, 40 Twite were seen. On their way down there, a group of around 20 Whitefronts were spotted and along with them were 3 Pink footed Geese. On their travels today, round Islay, they saw 3 Golden Eagles. Down in the Cornabus valley, outside Port Ellen while scanning through around 2,000 Barnies, Chris found the Cackling Goose for his clients and also a single Pale bellied Brent goose amongst them as well... Below the Car park at the Oa, 100 Twite and a couple of Linnets were present. Finally they had seen 2 LBB Gulls over Loch Indaal, we saw a couple of GBB Gulls along the front of the Kilchoman crag yesterday.. another sign that Spring is on the way...

Sunday 7th February

The story continues with another day with weather topping the bill, it was dryish for a few moments early morning, but soon went downhill with more rain falling and the wind picking up, but this evening, I think that possibly it could be not as wet and the wind has eased a bit, so allowing the ferry to come over this evening and is due to return back to Kennacraig later on.... The weather did not deter the visiting birders too go out and sample our weather... they even managed to see a Canada Goose, hutchunisi sp amongst the flock of Barnies in the fields over behind Bridgend... I only ventured out for some logs for the fire and put some food out for the birds to eat...

Wednesday 28th October

Some birds gleaned from the bird nerds meeting last when there were 18 folk in attendance... Yesterday afternoon, there had been a count of 179 Whoopers on Ardnave Loch and also further 50 on Loch Skerrols as well as more over the Coull/ Loch Gorm area. The small Canada Goose was still present on the flats at Gruinart, while 45 Scaup were seen at Uiskentuie/ Blackrock. James had seen 8 Hen Harriers on the reserve, 16 Whoopers, a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, 260 Lapwing and his tally for the geese on Gruinart was 19,280 Barnies, 628 Whitefronts, 121 Greylags and 7 Pale bellied Brents. On the way down to Bowmore to the meeting, before Erasaid, we saw 2 Barn Owls and a Tawny Owl, and coming home with weather now being drizzly rain, a Barn Owl and a Tawny were noted, possibly some of the Owls we had seen earlier!!! Back on Monday, Mandy had seen 3 Red legged Partridges after Bruichladdich on her way back from her work. Danny and Wanda had a White tailed Sea Eagle as they headed over towards Bunnahabhain. This morning, the Rochdale birders had a count of 189 Whoopers on Ardnave Loch. Up past the farm steading, there was a Whimbrel being mobbed by a Hooded Crow. In the fields around Cluanach, up behind Bridgend, they had flocks of Redwings totalling 800 as well as 12 Fieldfares there too. Bob, this morning had seen, what he thought was a Great Snipe close to home, but after further watching, it turned out to be a Snipe. He also had seen many groups of both Redwings and Fieldfares flying overhead, proving great temptation to a male and also a female Sparrowhawk... but with no real success!! I see in the current edition of the Birdwatching magazine, that there is an "interesting" page on the proposed cull of the Barnacle geese here on Islay.

Tuesday 20th October

A good list of sightings through from Mary. On Friday, she had carried out the WeBS count. Her tallies were as follows, Ardnave Loch: 18 Mute, 28 Whoopers, 155 Wigeon, 1 American Wigeon, 1 Goldeneye, 4 Mallard, 4 Teal,2 B.H. Gull, 1 C. Gull, 2 H. Gull and a G.B.B. Gull. On the "floods": 2 Mute, 70 Greylag, 2 Gadwall, 166 Teal and 21 Teal with Loch Gruinart as follows: 27 P.B.B. Geese, 3 Shelduck, 11 Wigeon, 22 Mallard, 13 Pintail, 3 Shoveler, 9 R.B. Merganser, 13 Heron, 99 Oystercatcher, 64 R. Plover, 431 Golden Plover, 12 Grey Plover, 66 Lapwing, 40 Sanderling, 73 Dunlin, 23 Barwit, 135 Curlew, 1 Greenshank, 26 Redshank, 3 Turnstone, 33 B.H. Gull, 81 C. Gull, 137 H. Gull, and 3 G.B.B. Gull. Yesterday, a goose count took place on the reserve at Gruinart, but counting proved difficult as a young White tailed Eagle kept on flying around, other birds of prey seen were a ringtail Hen Harrier taking a Teal in front of the old hide, a Kestrel and a male Hen harrier up near to Grainel, a Sparrowhawk below the visitor centre as well as a Buzzard on the flats...The Goose tallies were 18,657 Barnies, 24 P.B.B. Brents, 2 Todd's Canada, 75 Greenland Whitefronts, 15 Greylags, 10 Whoopers, including a group of 6 with 2 juvs which arrived as they were counting! This morning, Graham and Jo had seen 6 Black Guillemots under the pier at Bruichladdich with 2 G.N.D., 15 R.T.D., and 2 Turnstone seen from the pier as well. Round the Rhinns, 4 Buzzards a Golden Eagle and also 2 Whooper resting up. Later on at the top of Loch Indaal, close to Bridgend, over 300 Golden Plover, 5 Grey Plover, 5 Pintail, hundreds of Wigeon, many Barwits, thousands of Barnies and a small Canada, probably a hutchinsii sp. Mike Peacock had seen 7 Bottle nosed Dolphins feeding on Loch Indaal this morning.

Friday 19th December

Been a rather blustery day here today along with some dirty showers in the mix as well. The wind outside is rather noisy at present as I put this entry together... Louise had been round Loch Gorm this morning and had seen a total of 5 Snow Buntings, 3 Whooper Swans, a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp and a Glaucous Gull on her travels. Morvern had given me through the figures from the International Goose count carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The tally was 39,185 Barnies and 4,772 Whitefronts. The figure for the Barnies was up on the last December, but down on the rolling average for the past 3 years, and again the Whitefronts were down, both on last year and also the 3 year average as well. Thanks to Morvern and the team from SNH for these figures.

Monday 17th February

A miserable kind of a day out here today, after having a great day yesterday, just as well that I have some sightings from yesterday for you!The Hampshire birders had a juv White tailed Sea Eagle putting the Barnies up at "smelly corner", offshore they had 4 Red breasted Merganser, GND, Teal and Wigeon with Barwits there too. They also spotted a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp amongst the Barnies. Down on the Oa they saw Chough, Rock Pipit and also Rock Doves. Mary had 5 Purple Sandpipers at Bruichladdich, over at Coal Ila, she had 4 Black Guillemot along with 2 Otters. At Kilchiaran, Mary noticed the Fulmars back in, Mistle Thrushes were present too and later on a juv Golden Eagle. The Rochdale birders had also seen the White tailed Sea Eagle, over at Finlaggan, they had a Woodcock with 11 Red legged Partridge at Ardnahoe and then a Sparrowhawk bothering the lbj flock at Corsapol. Ed had see 6 Long tailed Tits and a Treecreeper on his way out towards Ardtalla

Thursday 18th April

Another busy day in with walkislay, apart from the odd shower here and there, the weather held out for the 4 walks that took place today. Last  walk is tomorrow, over to Jura for an assualt on one of the Paps. On Wednesday, James had seen a Canada Goose huthinsii sp on the flats at Gruinart. Karen had a Wheatear along at Rockside yesterday, we had one there tonight and another down close to Gortan. On the walk out from Laphroaig this morning, Armin had 4 Swallows! Today Malcolm had a pr of Siskins on his feeders, not having seen any at all this winter there. He also had 2 pr of Greenfinches 2 pr of Chaffinches and a pair of Goldfinch. There still appear to be quite a few flocks of Barnies around, coming home this evening at the top of Loch Indaal, there was a large number present with the tide being out. Earlier on we had seen flocks of Barnies at Rockside, Gartmain, Gartbreck and Rannochmore as well.

Sunday 17th March

Went out with Bob this morning along with 2 visiting birders to do the count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck. The birds seen were as follows, 6 Mute Swans, 80 Barnacle Geese, 23 Greenland Whitefronts, 1 Canada Goose hutchinsii sp., 21 Shelduck, 42 Mallard, 60 Wigeon, 42 Teal, 8 Red breasted Merganser, 20 Eider, 3 Goldeneye, 3 GND, 1 RTD, 3 Cormorant, 12 Shag, 4 GBB Gull, 50 Herring Gull, 20 Black headed Gull, 10 Common Gull, 47 Oystercatcher, 5 Barwits, 50 Curlew, 4 Redshank, 1 Grenshank, 34 Dunlin, 41 Turnstone, 1 Lapwing, 2 Grey Plover, 20 Ringed Plover and 2 Snipe. Not the warmest of days, but job done! The Turnstone as ever, never really batted an eyelid and we were really close to them, amazing how they blend into the background on the shoreline

Monday 4th March

This image of one of the Canada Geese hutchinsii sp, resting up with some of the Barnies taken last Thursday at the top of Loch Indaal by Pavel Ruzel, one of the visiting Czech birders. Thanks to Pavel.

David Jardine returned home yesterday, but managed a few more sightings before heading back across the water... Saturday evening, David had a Tawny Owl at Bridgend. On Loch Indaal, out from Bowmore, 7 Scaup, 27 Common Scoter, and 8 Slavonian Grebes were seen. The possible Black necked Grebe that David had seen the other day turned out to be a moulting Slavonian Grebe. Loch Tallant, 3 Water Rails were heard calling. At Cruach, 7 Yellowhammers were seen, the Moorhen was present at Carnain and a male Goosander was noted on Loch Skerrols. New arrivals, Kathie, Mick, Dave and Jacquie saw a White tailed Sea Eagle from the ferry as they came over on Saturday. Yesterday they had a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp amongst the Barnies at Gruinart, round Loch Gorm they had 3 Hen Harriers (2 male and a ringtail), a Golden Eagle and 2 Raven. Up at Ardnave they had a Merlin, a count of 45 Chough and lateron another ringtail Hen Harrier, on Arnave Loch, 8 Whoopers were seen. Today on Loch Indaal they had 3 Scaup and down on the Oa, 2 Peregrine, 2 Chough, a male and a ringtail Hen Harrier were present as was a flock of 26 Twite. Here at home, late afternoon 14 Chough were doing their acrobatics over the crag.

Friday 1st March

That's another month in, a dry month thank goodness with  a mere 2.6" in total here, almost half of what we had last February, better not shout about it too much.... Den Mather and his 2 Czech birders had a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp amongst the Barnacle geese at the top of Loch Indaal. Up towards Sanaigmore they saw some Choughs on the road and finally at Laggan road end they had a ringtail Hen Harrier, their fourth in 2 days. Thanks folks for your birds. Today, out in the field in front of his house Bob watched a nesting Lapwing protect its its' territory against a Peregrine. The Peregrine swooped over a few times and the Lapwing had enough and took flight to chase the Peregrine, but the Peregrine forced the Lapwing back down on the ground and then the female Peregrine came out of nowhere and zapped the Lapwing and carried it off as if it was a smaller bird. On a happier note Michal around midday saw a Pipestrelle Bat out flying in the garden at Mill cottage on Gruinart

Wednesday 20th February

Another dry day out here although there is a lazy wind that goes straight through you coming from the East as well, not a warm wind! By the way, the stars last night were tremendous to see, but it is overcast just now, so doubt if there will be any stargazing here later on... Bob today had been out Goose counting with Fiona. On Loch Indaal, with clear skies last night, some of the Barnies were resting up as the tide receded, along with the Barnies was a Pink footed Goose as well as a Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp , possibly the geese that frequent the Mulindry area! Up the Glen road, several mixed flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare were seen and also 5 Mistle Thrushes too. Down close to the radio mast at Cruach, just outside Bowmore a  flock of finches came off the stubble field, in their number there was at least 1 pr of Yellowhammer. At Tallant, 45 Golden Plover were counted and finally down at Gartbreck several groups of Skylarks were seen, the largest flock being 30 in number.

Saturday 16th February

A lot of birds for you tonight, coming in from all around, here goes...On Thursday, Malcolm had 5 species of geese in one field. Over at Ballytarsin there were around 1400 Barnacle Geese, 41 Whitefronts, 1 Pink footed Goose, 3 Pale bellied Brent and a Canada Goose hutchinsii sp. Later on Malcolm had 24 Pale bellied Brent on Loch Indaal, just below the "Power Generating station" at the edge of Bowmore. Yesterday the Hampshire birders had Long tailed Duck and Common Scoter on Loch Indaal. Round Carnain their highlights included Curlew, Scaup, Heron and Wren. Today in the same area they had a male Hen Harrier, Song Thrush and Rock Pipit. On a walk up to Loch Cam, later on they saw 2 Golden Eagles, 4 Chough and 2 Snipe. Bob had a male Hen Harrier up behind Port Charlotte, a Sparrowhawk down in Port Charlotte and also Lapwing displaying up in the fields beside his house. Last night on our way over to Bunnahabhain, after The Woolen Mill and on our way to our destination, we saw a total of 5 Barn Owls out on the wing, great to see! James today had a walk round Ardnave. His top birds included 32 Chough, 34 Raven, 1 Grey Plover, 10 GND, 7 Skylarks (1 attempting to sing!) 1 White tailed Sea Eagle (juvenile bird) out over towards Nave Island, 5 Cormorant and the leucistic Barwit was seen too. Back home at Grainel, he counted 45 Skylarks later on. Anna had a couple of Goldeneye in the harbour in Bowmore today, down close to Port Ellen she had more ducks and geese there as well as a couple of Shelduck. Late this afternoon, over the house here, we had 23 Chough in a flypast, pity they were not here the other week, it could have confused the Big garden birdwatch computer!!!!