Sunday 5th May

Helen Brown had been watching 2 Tufted Ducks as they were swimming around and also diving on Ardnahoe Loch today, the first time she has seen any Tufted Ducks on the loch there.
James today had seen a Dotterel up on Borichill Mor, later on he saw a Yellowhammer over at Persabus.
Derbyshire Bob is back over for his annual visit to Islay. He scoped a Golden Eagle high up over Jura, from where he is staying. In field in front of his cottage he had a Whimbrel, a pair of Wheatears and also 2 Pairs of Stonechats present. Between Ballinaby and Saligo Bay, he had several Wheatears and at Saligo Bay itself, 6 Ringed Plover, 5 Sanderling, 4 pair of Eiders as well as some Oystercatcher and Common Gulls present as well. He also commented on how quickly some of the locals returned to his feeders, the locals being Goldfinches, House Sparrows and Chaffinches.

Wednesday 24th April

A grand chance to clear out the sightings sent through over the past few days, so off we jolly well go!!
Gary on Saturday had seen a "nice mixed flock of Linnet and Twite" at Rockside, 3 Hen Harrier above Gruinart, a juv. Golden Eagle on the wing above the moorland trail being mobbed by a Buzzard, and then a further 3 juv. Golden Eagles noted over Killinallan. Finally down at Bruichladdich, Gary had seen 4 Purple Sandpipers there.
James and Sally had gone out for a walk on Sunday, seeing 2 Golden Eagles, a Peregrine, a Merlin, 2 Hen Harriers, 2 Yellowhammers and a Common Sandpiper up and around Gortantoid.
There were several reports of folk hearing a Cuckoo, Dave P. had one over at Ardtalla, Lesley had heard one while on the walk up to Beinn Dubh and Steve Wrightson had heard one close to his house at Bolsay.
On Monday, Dave P had heard a Corncrake calling when he was down at Portnahaven.
Louise Muir had some sightings through from Jura.. All seen on Monday, a juv Whitetailed Eagle seen at the mouth of Loch Tarbert, a Yellowhammer present at Tarbert, 4 Short eared Owls on the Ardmenish flats  and also 2 Hen Harriers.
Down on the Oa yesterday, David Wood had seen 3 Dotterel. He also had Sedge Warblers, Groppers and a few Whinchats, all ticks for the year list!!!
Good friend, Armin sent  through a list of top birds seen so far on the Walkislay program so far... On Sunday, they had seen a Golden Eagle, a male Hen Harrier, Shags, Gannets, Sand Martins and an Emperor Moth. Monday's walk produced another Golden Eagle flying out over the sound of Islay. Yesterday, up at Loch Cam they had seen an Otter. Thanks to Armin!!
Also yesterday on the reserve at Gruinart, James reported through that there were SedgeWarblers around....
Yesterday, Peter Gill had seen a Whinchat on top of a fence while down on the Oa, also seen were some Chough there too  and a small flock of 50 - 60 Twite. Coming back up from the Oa, at Gartmain out of Bowmore, he had 70 Barwits and 20 Dunlin.
Yesterday, down at Rockside I saw 6 Whimbrel.
Another good friend was saying that she had seen a Bonxie  (Great Skua) yesterday, up beside Tain, not here on Islay!!

Thursday 12th November

Rather blustery out here on Islay today, with gusts up to 60mph recorded and the power is still on, so you will get an entry from me tonight! Yesterday, Armin had seen a Buzzard sitting on the top of one of the chimney pots on the cottage round at Saligo. Further on up at Ardnave, on the loch there were only around 20 Swans seen, so it backs up the sightings yesterday of Swans flying out in groups. Bob had seen another 2 groups mid afternoon flying down Loch Indaal. Lesley Silcock, a returning birder to Islay and now resident down at Port Ellen had seen 2 groups of Whoopers fly out over Kilnaughton Bay yesterday morning. Also yesterday, over the dunes Armin had 15 Chough flying, and this afternoon, he had an Otter swimming in the sea at Carraig Fhada lighthouse at Port Ellen. Mike Peacock had a Leach's Storm Petrel battling against the storm as it flew down Loch Indaal, less than 10 metres from his living room window around 9am this morning. Mid morning Lesley had seen a possible Dotterel at the head of Loch Indaal.

Monday 4 May

Thanks James, now my turn to help cover the blog while Ian and Margaret are on their holidays. Hope they've got more sun than we have! Roger was out and about the reserve over the weekend and had a large flock of around 2000 dunlin on the estuary on Saturday. James was out early bird surveying this morning and had 2 lesser redpoll, 3 grasshopper warbler, 5 whitethroat, 5 stonechat, one whinchat and two water rail calling. Today at the Oa a dotterel has been seen.

Sunday 1st June

After the showers this morning it turned out to be a not bad day with the sun shining, not that warm though...

Martin had been out on the hills today down the bottom end (South) of Islay and thought he had a possible sighting of Dotterels, could they be nesting out there? Back on Thursday, Louise had an Osprey over Loch Gorm. Today James had a Whitethroat singing away in his garden at Mill cottage. 

The rainfall here for May tallied out at 4.25" which is wetter than last year but not far of a "normal May".....

Tuesday 21st May

Yesterday George heard a Corncrake calling close to the Oil depot down at Bruichladdich, but it sounded as if it was on the shore side of the road. He also heard a Cuckoo calling and up at his ponds he had seen some fresh Otter spraint. Today, down on the Oa, on the RSPB guided walk , visitors saw a Golden Eagle. This afternoon, a female Dotterel was seen on reserve at Fang Dhu and Dave had counted 14 Long tailed Skua together over the reserve, flying inland. Here at home, there were a few more Swallows around, possibly arriving in with the slightly warmer weather yesterday! Having said that, the Swallow nest at the back door has fallen down already, the mud could not be of the right kind. I remember a few years back and all the House Martin nests fell down, again possibly the wrong mud...

Friday 15th June

Yesterday, Michal had a Dotterel up at Ardnave, on the reserve at Gruinart, James heard a Quail and 3 Long tailed Tits were seen in the trees opposite the office at Bushmills. Down at Port Charlotte, on Loch Indaal, Carl had a GND in full summer plumage.Here at home this morning there were a couple of Collared Doves hanging around, and later on I saw a Great Tit was on the bird table along with some of its' youngsters, possibly the brood out of the nest box! This evening, outside the temperature has dropped, so I am proud announce that the jersey is back on, at least it is dry, and the forecasters were talking of rain today!!!

Thursday 17th May

Yesterday must have been the day of the geese, as James saw 10 Pink footed Geese on Loch Gruinart, we had 6 Pale bellied Brent down at Blackrock while the RAFOS team had a total of 20 Pale bellied Brent on Loch Indaal. Also later on, the RAFOS team had a Wood Pigeon down at "the hedges" at Sunderland and another at The Woolen Mill, a tick for their list for the week! Today over at The Woolen Mill, they had a Dipper as well as a Grey Wagtail and also the pair of Siskins on the feeders there! To cap it all late this afternoon, there was a phone message from a visiting birder who had seen 10 Dotterel on a ploughed field over at Ballinaby, next to where the stream comes out of Loch Gorm, boy were they difficult to pick out when they got hunkered down in the ploughing, thanks Andrew! We also heard a Corncrake calling there too, another new site for Crystal, and we are claiming it was on our patch as it sounded to be on the far side of the stream!!!

Friday 11th May

Dave took this image down on the Oa today of a pair of Dotterel that had been seen initially by Mark Shields. Beki, on the guided walk yesterday at Gruinart had Lapwing, Redhank, Whooper & Mute Swan, Teal and Wigeon on the floods, on the way down to the hide they had some Sedge Warblers amongst the whin bushes. George had a count of 85 Whimbrel on his fields and a Whooper Swan on his ponds. Bob had seen a Stoat as well as 2 Sedge Warblers close to his house. Dave also had Sedge Warblers down on the Oa, as well as a Peregrine. Michal round at Saligo had 50 Ringed Plover, 30 Dunlin and a Golden Plover. Back to Gruinart, and James had 5 Pale bellied Brent Geese. Here at home, I heard a Corncrake calling from one of the Iris patches out in the fields, I went over and sat for a good 15 minutes, the Corncrake kept calling, blowed if I could see it, another day, another place.. Margaret found a Pheasant's nest in the garden with 22 eggs in it, probably 2 hens using the same nest.

Sat 15th May

Rather a late entry (it is now after 1.15am Sunday!) but what with one thing and another, it has been a long hectic day. The cottages are starting to get busier, in fact I think that all the cottages this week are full with bird watchers...more of that on Sunday's entry!

Down on the Oa today and a group of visitors on a walk there had a sighting close to the car park at Upper Killeyan on the RSPB reserve of a Dotterel.

Carl was in touch tonight with some birds. He had a Whinchat in Portnahaven, sitting on the same fence as a Stonechat, a Cuckoo flew overhead and at the same time a Sedge warbler was singing. Back at Carl's home, he has an "annoying" Herring gull that pecks extremely loudly and persistently at a whole range of windows! Carl wants to know of any "Herring gull window pecking deterrents". All answers will be passed on to Carl!

Sat 25th April

This male Blackcap was caught in camera by Michal today, it had been there for a few days, but his perseverance paid dividends!

A phone message from Louise on Jura earlier on saying that there have been 43 Pale bellied Brent Geese in the bay at Craighouse, just below the shop. Another piece of news was that a dead Golden Eagle had been found in Pig Bay right up at the top of the Northern tip of Jura. It had a ring on its leg, and turned out to be have been rung back in 1987, so probably had died of old age rather than anything else. LG

James reported in to say that he had seen 52 Black tailed Godwits this morning on the floods, while at Bruichladdich he had an Arctic Tern. Coming home this afternoon, he commented that the salt marsh at the head of Loch Gruinart was covered with numerous Golden Plover, Ringed Plover and Dunlin, but was unable to get an accurate count as he did not have his 'scope with him at the time. He had been told this afternoon that there had been 4 Dotterel seen in a ploughed field over at Upper Killeyan on the Oa yesterday. JRH

Another visiting birder, over for a few days, left a message to say that he had seen his first Common Sandpiper of the year at Port Charlotte today, and had heard a Grasshopper Warbler over at Loch Tallant, while at the top of Loch Indaal there were 53 Black tailed Godwits. Were these possibly the same birds that James had seen too?

Mon 20th April

Several different sightings from visitors, so here goes. On Friday, while out with walkislay, 2 Sandwich Terns were seen over the Sound of Islay from the lighthouse at McArthur's Head. The same folk also had another couple of birds on Loch Indaal later on the same day.

Adrian Martin from Hampshire had been over on Islay last week, and was commenting on our different birds, "abundant Hen Harriers, Choughs, Great northern Divers and Gannets were all fantastic for us Hampshire folk, but standard fare for you". He was also fortunate enough to see a couple of Dotterel in a field by the car park at the RSPB reserve on the Oa on Thursday, and on Tuesday evening whilst out, he had heard a Snipe drumming. Thanks for that, Adrian.

Another visitor had heard 2 Cuckoos today, one down beside Foreland, the other over beside Loch Tallant.

Back to our locals, and Michal heard his first Corncrake calling this morning, over at the RSPB reserve at Gruinart, while James had his first Sedge warbler of the year. MS & JRH