Monday 7th June

Visitor, Mark Warburton yesterday had 2 Black tailed Godwit and also 2 Wigeon boh seen from the South Hide at Gruinart.

Another set of returning visitors included Jeff Duncan who arrived  over on Saturday... 

"Not been over in the summer months for 8 years!

Had a chough, grasshopper warbler and a calling corncrake this morning at our accommodation just outside Port Charlotte. Then Snipe and sand martin at Machir Bay followed by a lovely male Hen Harrier over the road before Foreland House. 

Then took a drive down to Portnahaven on the back road via Kilchiaran. In the space of an hour added Curlew, whinchat, cuckoo, a hunting male Merlin and surprisingly a pair of Great skua bathing on the lochan at Claddach. Always something to see no matter the time of year!"

Other returning visitors, The Rochdale Birders who we have not seen for some time, are back here again, and were in touch to say that they had seen a male Hen Harrier trying to flush a Linnet out of a Whin/ Gorse bush, but no joy....

Monday 3rd August

Alistair Hart had done a spot of sea watching this morning down at Frenchman's Rocks between 07.15 and 08.30.

Not too cold and windy.

Little bit over fazed with the cornucopia of bird life present, my counting skills largely deserted me.
Gannets lots, Manx Shearwaters around 60 passing per minute. Fulmars and Kittiwakes. 4 Great Skuas.

Skylark with young on way back to car. My first Wheatear of the year also on way back to car. 

Final highlight was close views of a raven on a gatepost on drive back to Portnahaven.

Thursday 14th September

It is meant to September, normally a month of better weather for the farmers to get their combines out and get their harvest cut and home, not so this year, so far this month we have had over 3 inches of rain, the fields are sodden, so it will be difficult to get machinery to move around without getting bogged down...

JD had done some birding on his last day for this visit. At Frenchman's Rocks, a lot quieter today, but a Great Skua was seen, on Loch Indaal, 6 Arctic Terns, a Greenshank, 31 Common Scoter, 52 Wigeon, a Slav Grebe, a Greater Scaup, a juv BTD. At Cgaigens, Jim saw a juv Whinchat and Gruinart, 2 Peregrine, an imm White tailed Eagle, 2 adult Whoopers and a Barnacle Goose were present.

Thursday 25th August

Yesterday, Ron from Islay info had seen a couple of Hen Harriers over close to Saligo, one a ringtail, the other was a male bird. This morning, Martin Armstrong had 3 Goldcrest in his garden at Glenegedale. Mary Redman had a Great Skua fly over Claddach Loch, down at Portnahaven this morning and then she saw an Osprey flying from Gortan over Loch Indaal towards Bowmore. This afternoon, Raymond at Foreland Estate had his combine out harvesting the spring barley for Bruichladdich Distillery, the start of the harvest!

Tuesday 24th May

After a misty start this morning, the sun came out and burnt it off,  giving us a nice sunny afternoon and now a beautiful evening.

Last night was the first night when we carried out the Corncrake counts round the island, not sure of the grand total, but we heard 6 in total on our patch, but heard no Sedge Warblers calling anywhere on our travels....  James had covered the reserve at Gruinart and heard 8 Corncrakes, a Water Rail, a Barn Owl was seen and also a Short eared Owl. Michal today had seen a male Hen Harrier mobbing a juvenile female Golden Eagle up at Ardnave. Over on Nave island, Michal had spotted 3 Barnies still present and also a pair of Great Skuas there too.

Tuesday 19th April

Yesterday Louise saw two sandwich terns at Craighouse, Jura. Alistair Hutchinson saw a male hen harrier and grey wagtail at Woolen Mill. Today the wader survey at Loch Gruinart started. So far only three fields were done with 68 lapwing and 20 redshanks counted. All birds busy displaying and making scrapes. Also several snipe were seen along the drains. During the survey merlin was seen chasing a meadow pipit. A visitor reported seeing an osprey at Finlaggan on Sunday afternoon and today a great skua in Ardnave.

Wednesday 20th May

On Monday, Gary had taken a walk out to Killinallan Point and along through the dunes there. He saw many Pied Wagtails and several Stonechats. On his way back down the road towards Craigens, at Bun an Uillt, Gary saw a Great Skua was chasing the waders there. Yesterday over at Bunnahasbhain, Gary had a Golden Eagle flying over from Jura to Islay. Down in the Community Garden at Bridgend, Gary had several Blackcaps singing and also a pair of Bullfinches calling there too. The Bowland birders yesterday had seen a Peregrine, and a pair of Raven on a walk out from Machir Bay. Also present were 2 Chough, plenty of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits. Back at the car park at Machir Bay, a Corncrake was calling away, and up past the Coastguards in the barley field, a Pink footed Goose was present along with some Greylags, one of them had a red neck collar on. The Bowland birders could not make out the lettering and we went down later on, but no luck either...

Sunday 17th May

A rather dreich day out here today, not what I would call a typical May day...Some more sightings through from earlier on in the week... Back on early Friday morning, Bob , David and myself carried out the BTO Waterways breeding bird survey from The Woollen Mill down the River Sorn to its mouth as it enters Loch Indaal, a distance of over 6 km. So here are the birds that we logged, 3 Grey Heron, 1 Mallard, 1 Buzzard, 1 Pheasant, 2 Herring Gull, 6 Wood Pigeon, 5 Collared Dove, 1 Cuckoo, 15 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 10 Wren, 4 Dipper, 2 Dunnock, 2 House Sparrow, 11 Robin, 2 Song Thrush, 4 Mistle Thrush, 15 Blackbird, 23 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 11 Willow Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Goldcrest, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 9 Great Tit, 4 Blue Tit, 3 Treecreeper, 40 Jackdaw, 10 Rook, 17 Goldfinch, 12 Chaffinch, 2 Redpoll, 3 Siskin and 52 Starling. Yesterday, Gary had seen some Sandwich Terns and also Common Terns at Blackrock. He also had 2 Great Skuas flying South low over Loch Indaal and then and then an Arctic Skua harassing the terns on the rocks! The Bowland birders, Andrew and Jane, had been in at the Woollen Mill yesterday where they saw a Grey Wagtail feeding its young, saw a male Siskin on the feeders and heard a Chiffchaff singing. Further on in the woods there, a Sparrowhawk was present, a Dipper was on the River Sorn, 2 male and a female Bullfinch seen, they also heard at least 9 Blackcaps singing away as well as some Willow warblers.

Thursday May 7th

Yesterday I saw an Arctic Skua (pale) over Bridgend, and on the sand there were several mixed flocks of dunlin and ringed plover; on the bird feeders at the office there was a tree sparrow and a lesser redpoll among the regulars. On our evening walk we had 4 calling corncrakes between the visitor centre and Mill Cottages. This morning at Ardnave I had 28 whimbrel on the loch, and a short eared owl out on the moorland. Gary was out walking on the reserve yesterday evening; on the flats he noted good numbers of pied wagtails, including 5 white wagtails, a female bullfinch and two great skua's overhead. From the hides and trails there were 7 black tailed godwit and a treecreeper, along with the usual suspects. Andrew had a good day too yesterday; at Ardnave he had merlin, hen harrier, chough, whimbrel, great northern diver, golden plover, ringed plover, dunlin and twite. At Gruinart reserve 4 whooper swan (still there this morning). A cuckoo flew across the road on their drive back to base at Kilchoman. Once home there had 2 whimbrel nearby, a hen harrier in flight, and a corncrake calling outside the cottage.

Friday 1st May

A few records from yesterday- Mary had a Great Skua over Port Wemyss and Paula and Emily saw 50 Whimbrel and 2 Little Terns at Ardnave. Today Roger reported 90+ Whimbrel at Uiskentuie Strand. I have been out on the Gruinart Reserve, where there are still 305 Barnacle geese, a Pale Bellied Brent and a White fronted goose as well as a calling Corncrake near the hide.

Sunday 19th April

It is that time of year again, with Mary and the team from RSPB starting early shifts doing survey work... Yesterday Mary had noted "good numbers" of Lapwings on nests up at Ardnave. Up there as well, she had a Merlin as well as a flock of 230 Golden Plover. At Kilnave, Mary saw a male Hen Harrier. The sunset last night was something else , followed by a great showing of stars, earlier on we had counted 7 ships out on the West and down towards Donegal, most them were Navy boats of different flags returning from the large NATO exercise held through the week off the North West coast of Scotland. Today off Ardnave, Mary had a good mix of birds on the water including GND, BTD, RTD, Eider, Guillemots, Razorbill, Gannet and a single Great Skua, all of which proved difficult to count due to the bright sunshine... Carl reported through having seen Sandwich Terns all week off both Bruichladdich and also Port Charlotte. Today, he had a RTD off Port Charlotte, Whimbrel flying over Port Charlotte and a Chiffchaff at Bridgend.

Monday 13th October

Another beautiful day, again with a sunset at present to finish the day off, and yes another shirt sleeves day out in the garden. Becky sent through some highlights from George Newall from Dunoon who was over last week. Mon 6th Oct, a Great Skua over Port Ellen Bay, Swallow Ardbeg on Thurs 9th, on Saturday, male Blackcap near Ardbeg , 2 Pochard on Loch Skerrols, Swallow nr Ballygrant. On Sunday, he had over 40 Shag fishing in Kilnaughton Bay along with an Otter! Yesterday George Jackson had a count of 25 Whoopers flying over the land along the coast line, could they have been the same Swans that we saw while doing the count? Today he had a large female Sparrowhawk at home at Bruichladdich. Yesterday Andrew and Jane ("The Bowland birders") had done the loop round the Rhinns from Port Charlotte. They started off at Octomore with a Greenfinch, down at Port Charlotte a Great Tit and a Grey Wagtail were seen, along at Carn, out on Loch Indaal a Red throated Diver and 5 GND. Off Nerabus, there was a Shag and a raft of Common Scoter. At Easter Ellister 3 Wrens, 3 adult Whoopers along with 6 juvs, pr of Wigeon, 2 Chough, Collared Dove, Goldfinch,and 2 White Wagtails. A female Long tailed Duck was seen between Orsay and Port Wemyss with a steady passage of Gannets noted towards Frenchman's Rocks. A female Hen Harrier at Portnahaven, at Tormisdale, a Dunnock and also a Song Thrush were seen. Finally at Gearach, 2 Tawny Owls were spotted. They reckon that they saw between 40 - 50 Stonechats while they were out. Yesterday as well, Carl had seen the Whoopers at Ellister. Today he had a Goldcrest and Grey Wagtail at Lorgba, Port Charlotte and also a Blackwit at Bruichladdich. Bob and Johno had Willow Warbler and a Redwing up on Bolsay Moor, up at Bun an uillt there were 20 Redshank and an Otter. Out from the visitor Centre at Gruinart, amongst the geese, they saw a Pink footed goose. Up at Ardnave Loch there were 18 Whoopers and 50 Wigeon and at the top of Loch Indaal they had a a GND. Tom Morton along with 5 friends, members of the Wigan RSPB members group had done an hour between 5 and 6 pm this evening below Bruichladdich. On Loch Indaal they counted 14 RTD, 3 GND, 1 Black throated Diver, 6 Slavonian Grebes, 3 Long tailed Ducks, 40 Common Scoter, 16 Whoopers and 20 Red breasted Merganser, They also counted around 20 - 25 Pink footed Geese fly overhead. Mary this morning had a count of the geese at Gruinart which tallied through at 16,201 Barnies, 92 Whitefronts, 97 Greylags, 30 Pale bellied Brents. Just after Mary completed her count, 2 juv Golden eagles flew up Gruinart and spoofed the whole lot and they then flew upwards out of eyeshot. Up at Kilnave, Mary had a juv Sparrowhawk with a male Hen Harrier at Ardnave. Back at the visitor centre, a Brambling was seen amongst the Chaffinches present. In the morning too from the old hide, 15 Snipe were seen feeding away and out on the sea wall, a dark belied Brent goose was seen. This evening here at home the Red Deer Stags are roaring away out on the hill...

Thursday 17th July

Another great Summer's day again.... Speaking to Bob last night who was saying that he had a mixed flock of wee birds on the grass field out in front of his house, he reckons around 100 or so birds in total, about the biggest half were House Sparrows, with the others being Linnets, Twite, Goldfinches and a few Greenfinches. Mandy one of the "vols" at Gruinart was saying to me this morning, that the other day up at Ardnave she saw a Great Skua taking a Shelduck... Down at Bruichladdich this evening there was a pr of Shelduck proudly showing off their 8 ducklings. Back at Loch Gorm the Mute Swans still have got their 6 youngsters in tow...

Saturday 31st August

Yesterday Dave had seen 3 Sooty Shearwater  as well as some Gannets and also Manx Shearwaters as they passed by the Oa. This morning, down at Frenchman's Rocks, Peter and Pia had around 20 Kittiwakes, 1 Great Skua, 210 Manx Shearwaters, 150 Gannets and 46 Fulmars all flying East in an hours sea watching. Earlier this evening, down at Uiskentuie, there was a single Barnacle Goose present amongst all the Gulls. There had been quite a few Gulls present where the freshwater enters the sea this past week. Later on a ringtail Hen Harrier flew over the cottages here at home. Mark round at Rockside has had his combine out this week cutting his barley when the weather still holds good with the baler right up behind the combine. This evening there were a large number of Greylags on the stubble

Wednesday 26th September

Almost forgot to mention that Peter saw a Fieldfare on Sunday morning up at Gearach which behind Port Charlotte on the road to Kilchiaran. Yeserday, Tom and Jo had been down at Frenchman's Rocks where they saw 2 Great Skua, 22 Kittiwake, 1 Fulmar, 1 Black Guillemot while on the land a Merlin was seen. Up at Ardnave, they counted 64 Chough and also 2 Wheatear with a Little Grebe on Ardnave Loch itself. From the new hide at the reserve at Gruinart they had 13 Barnacle Geese and on their way down to the old hide, they had a Blackcap. Last night on their way back to Bowmore after meeting up with us at Gruinart, Margaret Nelson and her sister ("the 2 Canadian sisters") had a Barn Owl fly across the road in front of them at "smelly corner". Today, James 6 Pink footed Geese on the saltings at Gruinart.

Tuesday 4th Sept

Another good here weather wise, most of the local farmers will be making the most of it with their combines out cutting the barley, and some will be taking the chance to make some more grass silage. The weather forecast for Thursday does not look too good, so make the most of this spell of weather, boys... Yesterday Bob had 4 Little Grebes and also 17 Mute Swans on Loch Skerrols. Today Bob had been round Ardnave with a visitor, their highlights included 11 Red breasted Merganser, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Merlin, 150 Oystercatcher, 1 Bar tailed Godwit, 6 Turnstone, 3 groups of Sanderling, 20, 34 & 60,  61 Dunlin, 1 Little Stint, 180 Curlew and 2 Black tailed Godwit. Over the other side of  Loch Gruinart, they had 2 Great Skuas, 2 Wheatear, 20 Twite, 45 Goldinches and a flock of 60 Chough. Bob this evening saw a Short eared Owl out of his kitchen window.  There has been a Chaffinch visiting the bird table of late that has several white tail feathers...no rings on it Euan! At midday, just past the memorial to the Kilchoman bards, there was a single Wheatear, and just along the road another 2 were present.

Friday 12th August

No doubt on the mainland, some of the sporting estates would be getting exited today, with today being "the glorious 12th", the day that the Grouse shooting season starts. Over here on Islay we have very few Grouse, and it would be doubtful if any were actually shot here... The weather here today has not been that great, overcast, not much sign of blue skies, temperature about normal for here, not really a day for birding. On the bird table the birds are certainly making the most of the food put out. Earlier this week, a visitor had seen a Great Skua or Bonxie fly past when he was up the East side of Loch Gruinart.

Fri 8th October

One of the Brent Geese that we had seen yesterday down close to Uiskentuie had coloured rings on its legs, and after a bit of waiting and watching, we were able to read them. We sent off the information and received an acknowledgement back from Graham McElwaine who co-ordinates Irish Brent Goose Research Group. This goose was originally rung on 22nd of May 2005 in Iceland, and has been seen regularly in Ireland, quite often in the Tralee Bay area. It is the first time it has been recorded in Scotland! There were a few Brent over at Port Ellen today, with the bulk of yesterday's Gruinart geese having moved on.

Yesterday Louise had seen a couple of ringtail Hen Harriers and also 28 Golden Plover on her travels.

This morning, Bob had seen 2 Merlin up near to his house, and this evening, around 6 pm he had a female Goshawk up the back of Port Charlotte.

On our way out this evening, there was a Merlin close to the roadside before it flew off, along at Sunderland the 6 Whitefronts are still present, while just at the farm steading at Sunderland, a Great Skua flew past. There were also around 35 Curlew at Braibruich at midday.

Mon 4th October

A pair of Turtle Doves had been seen down at Nerabus on Friday, and as far I know they are still in roughly the same area today, up towards Craigfad.

This morning, Michal had 5 Redwing flying over the RSPB reserve at Gruinart. Also this morning, George had a Raven on his bird table, and while he was down at the shop in Bruichladdich itself, a Peregrine flew along the roadside about 2 metres above the ground. This afternoon, Bob saw a single Pale bellied Brent Goose up the back of Port Charlotte, while in his garden, he had a couple of Goldcrest.

Yesterday, Becky had been through Bridgend woods and had also seen a Kingfisher on the river, as well as a Treecreeper on one of the trees. James had been away at the weekend, but had seen a couple of Great Skuas from the ferry on his to Kennacraig, and on his return in the Sound of Islay, James saw a couple of White tailed Sea Eagles. One of the them was an adult bird, the other a juvenile bird.

Fri 17th Sept

Today, over at Ardtalla, a visitor saw a Fieldfare. Bob had a couple of Great Skuas at Loch Gruinart. Malcolm, had 2 Sandwich Tern on Loch Indaal at Bruichladdich heading South. He also saw a juvenile Arctic Tern 30 minutes later. Late afternoon/early evening Malcolm had a count of around 700 Greylags on the sandflats at the top of Loch Indaal.

James and Eleanor have safely completed their epic kayak adventure, no doubt there will be many tales to tell over the next few days on their return to Islay. Well done to you both and to Sally too. They even made it into the Press & Journal, the local North East newspaper....