Saturday 16th March

Back on Thursday, Stewart and Cath, (the couple of visiting birders who I did not know their names, the other day) had seen 2 White tailed Eagles up the far side of Keppols. Chris Mills and the group from Norfolk Birding had seen 15 Chough fly into the roost up here on Thursday, late afternoon. Last night while coming back through Bruichladdich, they saw a Barn Owl carrying a vole. Then to finish their trip off, a Woodcock was seen as they approached they have been staying. If my memory serves me right, I think their tally for the week came to 95 species seen, a great tally considering the weather..  Many thanks for all your sightings folks, as ever much appreciated!!!

Kevin Morrison who lives in Port Ellen and is working down at Foreland House at present, had seen a Greater spotted Woodpecker on the bird table at Shuna's house where Woodie now lives. He also had seen 3 White tailed Eagles along from Uiskentuie, as he drove along the road towards the road junction leading up to Foreland.

Today, Mike along with 2 of his friends, Guy and Mark had seen an immature Golden Eagle and a White tailed Eagle being mobbed by a Buzzard, all in from Keppols. While coming along the Glen road, they saw an adult Golden Eagle, a Kestrel, as well as a Hen Harrier. Down on the merse at Bridgend, they saw a Little Egret. While walking down to the South hide at Gruinart, they heard a Chiffchaff calling away. Distillery Dave had seen 4 Pale bellied Brent Geese on Loch Indaal, in from Gortan this morning. Late afternoon, while in for a cuppa and a catch up, Dave spotted a Golden Eagle far out, away over the crag being mobbed by a couple of Ravens initially and then a Buzzard came and joined in the fray.

Monday 4th February

Yesterday, Mike and Val Peacock saw 29 Fieldfare, 7 Redwing, a Mistle Thrush, a Greater    spotted Woodpecker and also a Treecreeper, all down at Foreland. Yesterday, Gary Turnbull had seen a nice male Goosander coming to land on the water at the mouth of the Margadale River, over at Bunnahabhain. A  real busy day yesterday, with Gary and Wendy seeing Teal and also some Pale bellied Brent Geese from Carnain. As the light started to fade, early evening, they saw a Barn Owl, over the pool behind their cottage. Here at home, we had a Kestrel on top of the electricity pole.

This morning, we saw a couple of Golden Eagle soaring aroundout over the crag in the beautiful sunrise, with no wing beats to help them to fly.  Bob was up this afternoon, and the Eagles were out again in roughly the same place, but, ( there is always a but!!) there was a Buzzard flying close to them before it peeled off and returned to its' own "patch". James had seen a Golden Eagle over the reserve at Gruinart, and also the Little Egret was still present. Mike and Peter had seen a Tystie in breeding plumage at the top of Loch Indaal, between Blackrock and round to the Gaelic Colege, out of Bowmore. Other birds of note included 15 Scaup, 8 Long tailed Duck, 20 Slavonian Grebe and also 12 Common Scoter.

***  Stop the press, breaking news** 
Ashley Saunders is over on Islay this week leading a group from Oriole Birding and had seen a Cackling Goose just at the start of the High road, in from Springbank. Keep them coming Ashley...

Saturday 3rd November

Yesterday, Mike Bell had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier round the Western end of Loch Gorm. Along between Sunderland and Rock Mountain he had a total of 180 Whoopers counted in the morning. Over on Loch Skerrols, he saw 28 Mute Swan, 62 Wigeon, 186 Teal, 5 Mallard, 16 Tufted  Duck with 18 Red legged Partridge and a flock of 40 Chaffinches and a Brambling noted in the surrounding fields. Up at Kilmeny, Mike saw 278 Redwing which had been flushed by a Sparrowhawk. Loch Lossit held 3 Dabchicks, 2 Mallard, 3 Tufted Duck, a Goldeneye and also 2 Grey Wagtails. He also saw a Bullfinch and a flock of 35 Redwing there as well. On Loch Ballygrant, he saw a further 4 Dabchicks while in the surrounding trees Mike had a Woodcock, a Greater spotted Woodpecker, 6 Long tailed Tits, a Goldcrest and a Treecreeper. At Storakaig, he saw 2 Golden Eagles while along at Mulindry, 438 Whoopers and also numerous Geese were present there. Out on the merse from Whinpark, he had seen 45 Ringed Plover, 79 Dunlin and also 2 Knot. Up at West Carrabus there were 60 Skylark and 150 Redwing were seen.  On the floods at Gruinart,  Teal counted came to 1,630 in total. Up behind Carnduncan, Mike saw an imm. White tailed Eagle with 2 Golden Eagles seen in the air above Ballinaby.

The Rochdale birders returned for another visit yesterday, and had seen 3 White tailed Eagles as they came over on the ferry, 2 were seen on Jura with the other seen on Islay as they sailed up the Sound of Islay.

This morning, Bob had a Sparrowhawk crashing to his conservatory,  no damage to the property but, no such joy to the bird, as it is no longer ... over at Octomore, Bob had seen at least 500 Whitefronts on the stubbles.

 Also this morning, here at home, there was a Brambling out below the feeders along with the Chaffinches,  the first we have had so far this Autumn.

Sunday 8th July

Back on Friday, Gary had been out on the Islay lifeboat of which he is one of the crew. Well after the shout and while returning to Port Askaig, he had seen 5 RTD flying North up the Sound of Islay. Yesterday, while out with some clients, Gary had seen 5 Swifts flying over Machir Bay. Yesterday, Peter had a Greater spotted Woodpecker in the trees over beside Red Lodge on the High road. This morning Peter, Mike and Ian, Peter's friend who is over for a few days birding, had seen a Whooper Swan resting up on one of the silage aftermaths at Rockside. Also this morning James had a Spotted Flycatcher in his garden. This afternoon, we had a female Hen Harrier out along the base of the crag.

Reading back the blog, I have just realised that I forgot to tell you our rainfall figure for June, well it only came to a mere 1.1 of an inch, not a lot.... I know it is early days for July, bit the rain gauge has got nothing in it yet apart from a heavy mist last night, nothing much else in it so far.

Monday 11th May

Yesterday, after leaving us, the Mallard Way birder  had heard a Corncrake calling down at Machir Bay. On his way back over to Port Charlotte, he was "overtaken" by a pair of Curlew who were in hot pursuit of a raptor. The raptor landed on a telephone pole, only to be zapped several times by the Curlews.
Bob had carried out t BBS survey down from the Woollen Mill along o the mouth of the river Sorn. He h a total of 27 Species seen/ heard. These included a Greater spotted Woodpecker, 9 Grey Wagtail, 15 Wren, 4 Collared Dove, 5 Siskin, 7 Willow Warbler, 11 Blackcap and a Lesser Redpoll. 

Mike P had taken a walk up to Gortantoid woodland, seeing a pair of Lesser Redpoll, a Spotted Flycatcher, a Willow Warbler feeding brood, and 2 Linnet.  Close to Killinallan Mike had a flock of 47 Lapwing seen there. Along the shore at Bun an Uillt, there was a female Eider present along with 6 ducklings.

This afternoon, Mike had been over  at Loch Finlaggan where he had seen a White tailed Eagle being pursued by an Osprey and also a Buzzard. Mike also saw the male  Ring necked Duck on Loch Finlaggan itself. Garry today had seen a male Hen Harrier out on the wing up behind Bunnahabhain

Saturday 20th May

A fantastic image of a Red throated Diver sent through by visitor, Mike Boyes. Mike took it yesterday while out on a cruise led by Sea Adventures out of Port Ellen. There were a pair of Divers close inshore along the South east coast. Thanks for sharing your image Mike.

Gary on Thursday had a client out wishing to see a Corncrake, a difficult ask, but Gary came up with the bird, down at Machir Bay, another satisfied client... Yesterday while out with other cients, Gary had seen a White tailed Eagle and then an Osprey at Finlaggan, 30 Chough at Machir Bay, 3 Corncrake heard at Gruinart, a Greater spotted Woodpecker flew accros the road at Red Houses and finally 2 Dippers seen on the Rive Sorn close to the Woollen Mill.

Wednesday 17th May

Managed to get this wee baby Dunnock while out in the "hut" last night. Shortly afterwards, we had a flypast by a Cuckoo as it flew down to the wood being harassed by several other wee birds. Big mistake as the birds in the wood then ganged up on the Cuckoo as well...

This morning I saw 2 Cuckoos on the wing down at Foreland. Earlier on along the River Sorn I had seen 2 Spotted Flycatchers. The Rossendale birders had been down in the Bridgend Woods seeing/ hearing Grey Wagtail, Willow Wagtail, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long tailed Tit, Siskin, Robin, Song Thrush and a Mallard with ducklings. Along the Claggan strip wood, they had a Greater spotted Woodpecker. Dave Wood had 3 Spotted Flycatchers on the Oa today, the first there this year. Dave and Phill had carried a "Cliff survey" and saw the following pairs of birds, 13 Fulmars, 2 Common Sandpiper, 7 Oystercatcher, 1 Common Gull, 2 Wheatear. Other birds seen were (Not pairs!) 2 Golden Eagle, 11 Stonechat, 1 Whinchat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Tystie,1 Lesser Redpoll, Mipits, Skylarks, Swallows, Sand Martins and a Peregrine. Mike P. sent through highlights from his WeBS count on Outer Loch Indaal... 34 GND, 23 Guillemot, 6 Razorbill, 81 Common Scoter, 4 Arctic Tern, 2 Common Sandpiper and 5 Gannets.

Thursday 24th March

James and the team from Gruinart carried out a count of the Red Deer on the reserve on Tuesday and while they were out, James saw a Peregrine, 2 ringtail Hen Harriers, 4 Red Grouse and up closer  to Ardnave, a White tailed Eagle was seen. Visitor Alistair (sorry do not know your surname....) had seen 2 imm White tailed Eagles on Sunday when he was over on Jura and then on Tuesday over close to  Ardtalla another 2 were seen, but possibly the same 2 over from Jura. On Tuesday he had a count of 400 Golden Plover at Gruinart. On a walk out to Proaig he had seen 2 Snipe and yesterday had seen the Greater spotted Woodpecker at Kildalton. On his travels around Islay and Jura, 5 Hen Harriers and a Merlin have also been seen.

Sunday 20th March

Forgot to mention that when Malcolm and Bob were on Jura on Thursday, that they has heard a Great spotted Woodpecker at Forest Lodge , just out of Craighouse. Yesterday evening, Lesley had a pod of 9 Bottle nosed Dolphins in Kilnaughton Bay and this morning around 7am, Mike had seen a pod of at least 22 BnD off Port Charlotte. This morning, we had a count of 14 Chough out flying around the crag with 4 Buzzards soaring away much higher than them. Peter today had seen his first Gannet in Loch Indaal for the year, and it was actively fishing. This afternoon, Mandy and Fiona heard and saw the Great spotted Woodpecker down near to Loch Skerrols. On Loch Skerrols itself, 2 Dabchicks, 2 Tufted Ducks, a male Goldeneye and 5 Mute Swan were present. They also heard 2 Greenfinch and plenty of Goldcrests. On the flood/ pond at Saligo/ Ballinaby where Peter had the Dabchick the other day, this afternoon a pair of Shelduck were seen, still no Wheatears yet...
This evening, just before 6 o'clock, we heard a deep rumble and wondered if it was an earth tremor?? I spoke to Malcolm, and he had heard it as well, but so far no mention of it on the British Geological Society's website, but will keep you posted if any further info comes through....We live around 4 miles from Malcolm.

Thursday 26th November

Back at the weekend, Alistair Hutchison had seen 2 Greater spotted Woodpecker down towards Loch Ballygrant, and last week, he had seen one perched on a tree in at Loch Skerrols. Today, there were some Redwings flitting along the fence posts over at Ballinaby. There were also several hundred Barnacle Geese who took off as we slowed down to scan through them. The Whitefronts were there with the Barnies, but seem quite settled allowing us to look for any with neck collars on, but none were seen!

Thursday 9th april

What a suntan I am getting this week, other weeks it could be weather beaten....Yesterday, Dave and his team had carried a survey round the coast down on the Oa with a good number of returning birds seen with their tally being as follows, 5 Swallows, 3 Sand Martins, 2 House Martins, 1 Wheatear, 1 Black throated Diver, 1 Cormorant, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Peregrines and 4 Hen Harriers. Today, Dave had a Willow Warbler on the Oa. This morning there was a reported sighting of a Corncrake round at Ballinaby. Also today, Bob had seen a male Greater spotted Woodpecker over near to Eallobus and shortly after heard another one drumming away in the woods around Bridgend. This evening, Carl had seen a Sandwich Tern off Port Charlotte. Peter Gill yesterday had taken a walk out from Ballygrant down to the Sound of Islay, they had 2 Grey Wagtails just out of Ballygrant, and a Golden Eagle over the broch above Lossit Farm. Further on they had a pair of Hen Harriers, also on their walk they had heard a Tawny Owl hooting away in the middle of the day. Yesterday evening, they seen some Sand Martins and returning back into Port Charlotte, 3 Hooded crows were seen mobbing a Buzzard, and then a Golden Eagle joined in the fray... Today along the road to Gartbreck, they saw their first Kestrel of this trip. Down on the shoreline, there were 50 Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin, another first. Finally up at Gruinart, they had a Willow Warbler in the scrub opposite the car park.

Sunday 5th April

What a glorious day it has been today, once the early morning mist had rolled away. I even got the jersey off and worked away out in the garden, making inroads with planting some trees and shrubs and putting guards around them as I went along so the rabbits and hares do not think that I am planting the said plants for their benefit!!! This afternoon, 10 Whooper Swans flew over and in a Northerly direction, no sign of them resting on Loch Gorm so I wonder if they have just kept on flying with the weather holding good...Back on Friday, James had seen his first Wheatear of the year, up at Ardnave. Peter Gill on Friday had gone up the East side of Loch Gruinart where he had a count of 30 Sanderling, a Greenshank and 2 Chough were present too. Over the flats he had a count of over 500 Golden Plover, and he saw 2 Wheatears. Yesterday, he heard a Greater spotted Woodpecker drumming away in Bridgend Woods. 2 Grey Wagtails and a Dipper were present along at The Woollen Mill. On the road up to Scarrabus, close to a "pheasant feeder" there were 20 Yellowhammers. Finally over at Bruichladdich, Peter saw 5 Purple Sandpipers.

Tuesday 24th March

Some sightings through from yesterday from the Horwich birders...on Kilnaughton Bay there was an Eider and 2 Red breasted Merganser, with nothing to be heard in the woods there. Out towards Ardtalla, there were over 14 Seals, more RBM, Eiders and Shelducks. There were also 6 Yellowhammers at the Keepers cottage close to Kildalton cross. In at Bridgend Woods, they had 4 Goldcrests along with Great and Blue Tits in the conifers. They also had heard a Great spotted Woodpecker, possibly the same one that Alistair had heard last week. Along at McNioll's croft a Merlin was in pursuit of some Starlings! Finally on the wee lochans beside Loch Gorm, 4 Whoopers were seen. Today, there was a Fulmar in, soaring along the front of the crag. AS forecasted a bit cooler today, at least it stayed dry for most of the time...

Sunday 23rd March

Yesterday birders from Lincolnshire had seen a pr of Mistle Thrushes up towards Gearach and also a male Stonechat there too as well. Later on they spotted a male Hen Harrier as they went round Loch Gorm. Also yesterday, the Bolton birders had counted 31 Ringed Plover and 1 Sanderling on Machir Bay, on the pool beside the carpark they counted 44 Oystercatcher. Over at Bunnahabhain, on the Sound Of Islay, 10 GND, 1 RTD, 4 R B Merganser, 12 Tysties and 2 Mute Swans. Back at the Distillery, they saw a female Merlin chase after a Meadow Pipit. In at Finlaggan, a distant Hen Harrier was seen. On Loch Skerrols, 3 Mute Swan and a Dabchick were present. Today down on the Oa, Dave had White Wagtail and a flock of over 30 Meadow Pipits. Also today, Peter had a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the trees up behind Port Askaig, back home later on, he saw a Gannet over Loch Indaal from his house in Bruichladdich.

Wednesday 19th March

The Bolton birders had a great day birding today.... Over towards Port Askaig, they heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker and then they saw it flying off too. On Loch Ballygrant, they had 32 Tufted Duck, 4 Mute Swan and a male Ring necked Duck. Loch nan Cadhan held 2 Little Grebe, 2 Mallard and another 2 Mute Swans. In Ballygrant Woods, there had a Treecreeper. Loch Allan held 14 Herons in the trees. Just at the Finlaggan roadend there were 4 Buzzards together. Back down on Loch Skerrols, a male and 2 female Goldeneye and also 2 male and a female Tufted Duck. In the willows there, 2 Long tailed Tits were present. At Coal Ila, they saw 2 Tysties and an Otter. Smelly Corner held 8 Pale bellied Brent. From Port Charlotte, on Loch Indaal they saw 5 Common Scoter, 1 Red throated Diver, 1 Black throated Diver and a GND! Yesterday down at the car park at Machir Bay they counted 12 Chough. Earlier this week, Ed had a male Hen Harrier over beside the phone box at the head of Loch Gorm, was it hanging around waiting on a phone call?

Sunday 7th April

Almost a week away in April and it is not getting much warmer, at least it is staying dry! Quite a few sightings for you tonight, so here we go.... On Friday, Mary had 2 Wheatears up at Ardnave. Yesterday, down at Portnahaven, there were 2 large Canada Geese in the Bay. Today they had moved up to Claddach Loch. The Chough down at Portnahaven have been active of late flying around over the village.  Peter on Thursday had a pr of Grey Wagtail and also a Dipper on the River Sorn. In the trees there, a Treecreeper was seen and also several Goldcrest. Yesterday, between Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte, Peter had 9 GND, but all none in summer plumage. Today over at Loch Allan, the birds were out singing good style, Wrens everywhere, plenty of singing Chaffinches,  Dunnocks, Robins, Tits in general including several Coal Tit as well as 6 Goldcrest and 3 Treecreepers. Overhead a Sparrowhawk flew past. Later on a Bullfinch was seen. Peter also had a Greater spotted Woodpecker, his first on Islay. On Loch Allan itself, 2 separate Little Grebes were heard calling and a pr of Tufted Duck were present. Martin has had no Goldfinches for some time at his feeders, but today he put out some Nyger seed and within 15 minutes had his first one! Martin now reckons that he has had 9 today plus a Siskin, eating on either the Nyger seed or on the other food which has been on offer all of this time! Visitors had seen Chough up at Ardnave and also a Golden Eagle, a Merlin and Peregrine up there too. Earlier this morning, they had 3 Sandwich Terns down at Machir Bay. This evening along at Sunderland Farm, we saw a mixed flock of Geese, mainly Greenland Whitefronts, some Greylags, a few Barnies as well as 8 large Canada Geese. For the last few Springs, we seem to have had the appearance of a few large Canadas, but fortunately for us, they move on!

Wednesday 24th October

An early entry for the blog for once! The Leigh birders had split into 2 groups yesterday, David and Anne stayed here on Islay. At Blackrock they had 6 GND, 4 RTD, also 5 Slavonian Grebe, 7 Red breasted Merganser and 23 Eider. Down at Machir Bay they had 16 Chough, and on the "new pool" there, a mixed flock of Herring and Common Gulls, around 200 in all. From there, they also saw  4 Buzzards out, and 3 Stonechats. On Machir Bay itself they had a Greater Black backed Gull along with Oystercatcher and Sanderling.  A large flock of Barnies were in the air over towards Coull Point. Round Loch Gorm they had 5 Golden Plover, 12 Reed Bunting, c200 Starling, many hundreds of Barnies, 90 Greylag and 65 Whitefronts. A male Hen Harrier was seen and then chased on by a gang of Hooded Crows! Pauline and Ian headed back to Jura, towards Ardfin they had a Coal Tit, Wren, Dunnock, Great Tit, Blue Tit and heard 2 Buzzards calling. A pr of Treecreepers were also seen there. Further on the Rowan berries more Redwings and Fieldfares were noted as well as a further 2 Blue Tits. Up past Craighouse they had 2 Goldcrest, and then more Redwing , Blackbirds and 2 Mistle Thrush on the scrubland. A ringtail Hen Harrier was seen over the moor and then a sub adult Golden Eagle close to the road. A Reed Bunting was calling close to one of the cattle grids and a Wren and also another Stonechat seen there as well. Finally up the top end of Jura, they heard a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Another good day but still missing is an Otter...Danny and his team seen 2 Golden Eagles up towards Sanaigmore today, down in Sanaigmore Bay were 2 GND. At the top of Loch Indaal, they saw 4 RTD, 8 Red breasted Merganser and 2 Cormorants that were actively fishing away. Jura was the destination for the Bolton birders today, before lunch they had a male Hen Harrier on the moor above Lowlandman's Bay and a ringtail later on in the afternoon in the same location. They had another ringtail over the woodland up at Ardlussa, in the bay past Ardlussa, an Otter was seen briefly with 5 Stonechats at Lealt. A charm of 12 Goldfinches were noted on the felled plantation. A large flock of over 700 Fieldfare was seen moving through along with some Redwing and Mistle Thrush. Back on Loch Indaal, on the Bridgend side of Blackrock, 4 Slavonian Grebe were with a large raft of Scaup and a female Goldeneye.

Thursday 16th February

George was on the phone this morning and was telling me that there was a dead goose down on the shore, and along came one of the Glaucous Gulls and had his fill... Apparently, later on a Raven was down taking his pickings too, on what was left! Up behind his house, George had a Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp, amongst the Barnies that were there. A visitor was in touch with some birds over the last couple of days. A Great spotted Woodpecker was seen over close to Port Askaig, a Dipper on the burn at Kilchairan, 2 Red Grouse also over at Kilchiaran, a female Sparrowhawk at Nerabus and at Finlaggan, 3 Crossbills were present.

Wed 29th April

This morning, first thing at breakfast time, there was a male Siskin on the nut feeder out on the front lawn. There has been no sign of the woodpecker for a few days now, so possibly she has moved off, having said that she had been hereabouts for the best part of 5 months.

Another visiting birder reported this evening to say there had been 30 Whimbrel feeding in a field at Coultorsay down at Bruichladdich. He had also seen a pair of Adders up at Ardnave!

Over at RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve, James had seen a Water rail this morning and heard a further 2 calling. There was also a male Ruff in full summer plumage on the floods, along with 4 pairs of Shoveler. James also had 5 separate Grasshopper warbler singing today. He also commented on seeing more "skydancing" being done by the Hen Harriers. JRH

Another comment being passed on, is that there appear to more sightings of pairs of Short eared Owls round Islay this year. There have been a few more reports of calling Corncrakes being heard.