Saturday 24th October

Well that's it again another week in and and a new set of birders have arrived... and also some have headed home, so thanks to you all for your birds when visiting here and sharing your sightings with us....

Yesterday was the last full day for Eddie and Elaine as well as Mike Hill before heading on the ferry this morning. Mike sent me through this e mail referring to yesterday's sightings.

"On the beach at Machir Bay first thing were c300 Barnacle Geese, c60 Curlew and several hundred gulls. A Great Northern Diver flew into the bay and fished for a while before flying off north. 

A couple of Lesser Redpoll were in the trees next to our cottage this morning. Checked the local Barnacle Geese flocks for the Cackling or the potential Todd's Canada Goose but no sign. Lots of Gannets fishing down in Saligo Bay.

On the way back to the cottage, between Kilchoman Distillery and coastguards cottages, a male Hen Harrier   flew across the road and then headed towards Kilchoman church."

New arrivals on the island are a group visiting here led by Neil McMahon on behalf of Naturetrek. So here is the birds seen by Neil and his group yesterday..

"Highlights included a drake Long-tailed Duck off Bowmore Pier and a 'ringtail' Hen Harrier south of Bowmore heading towards Port Ellen. Our visit to the RSPB reserve at The Oa was very enjoyable in great weather to see a hunting juvenile Golden Eagle, an adult male Hen Harrier, ca100 Twite with some Linnets, Greenfinches and Goldfinches and a Redpoll and 2 Chough that flew past the American Memorial. From Port Ellen, we took the road past Ardbeg east towards Claggain Bay seeing 2 Otters, good views of Fallow and Red Deer and a fine adult White-tailed Eagle."

 

Thursday 10th October

Yesterday, Nick and Kath had seen a Merlin up towards Ardnave, and then later on they saw another Merlin sitting on top of a rock at the side of the road. They had also another Merlin dash across the road just South of Port Charlotte. The other day they had seen some Swallows around and now reckon that they could be feeding young on the nest... Robin Andrews and his wife, (another visiting birders), had seen a Pale bellied Brent and also 2 Barnies along with around 100 Greylags on their way out from The Machrie Hotel. Down on the Oa, out towards the American monument they had seen 2 Snow Buntings, and then along at the Kildalton Cross they had seen 4 House Martins and also a Swallow practising their flying skills. As Robin said, they were quite "surprised" to see them as all the Hirundines left them in North Yorkshire about 10 days ago. In around Kildalton, they also had a Yellowhammer and also a Greenfinch.

This morning, we watched a male Hen Harrier out on the wing flying over the Machir. Coming back from "Cake o'clock" at Gruinart, we had counted 52 Barnies resting up on a stubble field at Ballinaby along with over 120 Greylags. Along towards Saligo Bay, a male Hen Harrier was spotted flying quite high up and not spoofing or worrying anybody else...

Robin Andrews and his wife, Hilary today had called in for a cuppa, and Robin quickly told us that the sun would be shining by 4 pm, needless to say, we doubted him, but right enough at 15.58 the sun came out. Robin had seen 2 Curlew Sandpipers down the shore of Loch Indaal and also 6 Barwits earlier on, before coming up to visit us. They also had seen Redshank and Dunlin present there as well.

Richard Belter had seen a RTD and also a single Eider off Kintra.  Later on, while on the Oa he had seen Merlin, a Sparrowhawk, Rock Doves and also 3 Chough. At Upper Killeyan, a large flock of Twite was present. Back at Gruinart, Richard had counted 800 Barnies present and he also saw a Swallow out in front of the visitor centre there as well.

Monday 2nd September

Just checking through some e mails earlier on and I read that George E. Jackson had a Redstsart over on Jura, when he was over there last month. Also Matthew his son, had been over on Jura last weekend and had counted 20 Grey Heron in a group at the head of Loch Tarbert. Back home on Islay and Matthew had 15 House Martins seen at his home at Rockside road end.

Today, well how can you describe the weather, apart from being "gie dreich" and windy with it as well, say no more!!! We even lit the big fire earlier on, giving us some cheer!!!

JD had seen 3 juv. Common Terns off Bruichladich, over at Gruinart he had 3 Hen Harriers, a male, a female and also a 2 cy male as well. He counted a flock of 110 Goldfinches at Coull with a flock of 180 Linnet present at Ballinaby.  Up here on the feeders were 2 Greenfinches seen in on the feeders, the first seen here for  some time...

Wednesday 2nd January

Good friend Marsali, sent through the figures for the rainfall in December over at Mulindry. Being closer to the hills than we are here at Kilchoman, Marsali's tally for December was 6.68 inches, while the total for the year came to 55.8 inches. Marsali also told me that the annual total was the driest since 2010, say no more, Mrs T!!!

Yesterday, Mike had seen a pair of Bullfinches eating the willow buds while he was out on the track leading to the Forest up behind Bunnahabhain. Today, he bettered yesterday figures by seeing 5 Bullfinches while on the track  to Bolsay up behind Port Charlotte... Gary today had seen 2 Golden Eagles chasing the geese over Keills. Bob, was up visiting us today and just after he left here, he saw a female Kestrel. Just after lunch, we had 3 Greenfinches out on the feeders, up here at home.

Friday 26th October

Some birds in from John Wilson and his son Jonti. Yesterday, they counted  30 Scaup, and 20  Common Scoter and a GND off Blackrock. Over at Persabus, they saw 2 Yellowhammers. Down at Bowmore, 6 Pb Brents were present and on their travels they had 3 different Merlin, one at Port Charlotte, another at Bruichladdich with the final one seen over at Bunnahabhain.

Today, the Bowland Birders had a day of dodging the many dirty showers that were around, apart from the numerous heavy squally showers of rain we had some long prolonged hail showers late afternoon... They had an estimated count of at least 100 Redwing down at Octomore. On a trip round the Rhinns, they had a single Fieldfare, a male Hen Harrier and a single Mistle Thrush as well. At Gruinart, they had another male Harrier with a Dabchick up on Ardnave Loch. They also had seen, 6 Gbb Gull and a Buzzard feeding on a carcass of a young seal, opposite Nave Island. This morning, Bob had counted 390 Whoopers on the stubble field at Sunderland. Mike P. had a Greenfinch on his feeders and Gary saw a Glaucous Gull on the spit on the strand towards Uiskentuie.

Dave Woods reported through to say that with wind switching round to the North, that there has been a big fall of birds down on the Oa... There were only 50 Whitefronts present yesterday, but now up to 360 earlier this evening. Also counted were a minimum of 800 Redwing and 200 Fieldfare, all freshly arrived. Dave also had 6 Brambling and a Chiffchaff at Kinnabus today. John Wilson and Jonti counted 26 Chough going in to the roost here in between some really dirty showers.

Monday 22nd October

The wind this evening has certainly picked up....although somehow it has remained dry...

On Saturday, returning visiting birders,  Richard and Pat Howells had taken the ferry up to Colonsay. On approaching Scalascaig, they had 8 GND and a single RTD. Over at the airfield, they had seen some Chough, while round at Loch Fada, they heard a Water Rail calling. As the light started to fail at the dusk, 2 Golden Eagles flew overhead. Yesterday they had seen a "near albino" Greylag amongst the Greylags on the barley stubbles at Cruach. Later on up towards Killinallan, they had a Grey Plover, a Greenshank, several Barwits and also a single Shelduck. Over at Kilchoman, they had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier out over the crag. Down at Bruichladdich, they had a single RTD and also 3 GND. Also seen, yesterday evening, was a single Barn Owl  down on the high road towards the Duich Lots. Today, down at Claggain Bay they had seen a Long tailed Duck as well as 13 GND. At Cruach, they had seen 60 Golden Plover and then a Grey Wagtail down at Glenegedale.

On the Saturday, "The Bowland birders" returned for another "Islay fix". They had a relatively quiet trip over on the ferry seeing Guillemots, Tysties Kittiwakes, GND and also some RTD.  Yesterday, a trip round the Rhinns was quiet as well, with a male Hen Harrier seen around Portnahaven before flying over to Orsay where they noted 8 Roe Deer!!! There was a very sparse passage of Gannets.

Today, down at Bruichladdich they had Ringed Plover, Curlew, Pied Wagtail, Greenfinch as well as 3 Ravens. Further along the road, out on Loch Indaal from Loch Gorm House, 2 Little Terns were present with 6 Turnstone noted out on the big spit. At Blackrock, Common Gull, 24 Common Scoter and a small group of 6 Slav Grebes seen. They saw 12 Scaup out on the Loch from there and also a further 40 in the bay out from Cash Kelly's house.

Yesterday from the North hide at Gruinart, Distillery Dave had seen 12 Snipe along with several Barwits present as well. Steve Percival had told me this morning that the large number of Whoopers seen yesterday at Craigens had not been present this morning, so probably had been some of the Swans which we had seen heading out last night. Here at home this morning, I flushed a Snipe out from down beside the pond. Bob, this morning had a count of 700 Greylags on the stubbles at Octomore this morning, they appeared to be all vey quiet, and did not fly away as he was quite close to them. He wondered as to whether they had arrived in through the night and were resting up...

Another piece of news is that John Picton who is leading a tour here this week with Heatherlea had seen a Little Egret over at Loch an t Sailein which is over past Ardbeg Distillery, this morning.

Monday 28th May

Yesterday afternoon, Distillery Dave had seen a Whimbrel when he was over at Gruinart.

Here at home nothing much to report, although there was a pair of Greenfinch feeding young. The Tree Sparrows appear to have moved on as we have not seen them for the best part of a week. The Linnets are not so numerous and the Goldfinch are down in the numbers coming to our feeders. A lot of our birds are late in arriving with others definitely late in breeding as well.

Remember that May catch up for the Islay bird nerds will be held at the South hide at Gruinart tomorrow, Tuesday at 7pm. so if you are over on Islay this week, do come along and meet  us...

Wednesday 21st March

Back on Monday, Bob and myself carried out the WeBS count from Port Charlotte back to Blackrock. The birds seen and counted were as follows 7 GND, 1 RTD, 7 Shag, 16 Cormorant, 25 Barnies, a single Greylag, 14 R b Merganser, 48 Eider, 2 Shelduck, 4 Mallard, 24 Oystercatcher, 18 Ringed Plover, 1 Curlew,7 Dunlin, 1 Redshank, 1 Purple Sandpiper1 Snipe, 2 Tystie, 2 Gbb Gull, 4 Lbb Gull, 32 H Gull, 59 C Gull, an Iceland Gull. We also noted a Pied Wagtail, 5 Redwing, a male Stonechat and a Song Thrush , while on a field at Coultorsay with 92 Greylags were  resting up. Yesterday the Horwich birders top sightings included a pair of Crossbills at Finlaggan, a Hen Harrier seen at Ardnahoe,  a Grey Wagtail were present at the mouth of the Margadale River at Bunnahabhain with a pair of Mute Swan and a Tystie out on the Sound of Islay. On Loch Skerrols, they saw 6 Tufted Duck. Also yesterday, James had been out of the office and had some birds for us... A Wheatear was seen up at Ardnave with some Gannets also seen there offshore, on reserve at Gruinart, 14 Whoopers were present. Along at Erasaid, James counted 57 Ravens while down on the Uiskentuie strand, 2 large Canada Geese were seen.

Just the back of 6am today, there were 45 Greylags out on the Machir just over the garden wall from our house. There were a pair of Greenfinches on the feeders, a bird that is not that common nowadays here on Islay.

Sunday 11th February

Been a sort of a miserable sort of a day out here today, with plenty of dirty snow showers rolling in off the sea, not a pretty sight.. and not the warmest of days either!!!

Today, the Rochdale birders had been out, seeing the Iceland Gull at Ballinaby. Also seen there was a ringtail Hen Harrier, a flock of over 300 Golden Plover and also 30 Fieldfare. Round at the head of Loch Gorm (East end), over the moor,  they saw a male and also a ringtail Hen Harrier. They also had seen another pair flying, over at Gruinart. This afternoon, Fiona and Mandy saw a Golden Eagle eating away on a Barnacle Goose carcase down on the stubbles at Sunderland. The dead goose had been seen by Fiona in the same place this morning...

Here at home, there were over 500 Barnacle Geese plus 30+ Greylags on the Machir towards the war graves cemetery. They were the wrong side of the garden fence, so I could not class them as "house birds"!!! The feeders have been busy as ever, even more birds today with the snow, at one time we had 36 Goldfinches, and also a solitary Greenfinch in amongst the numerous Chaffinches. Skulking around,  making the most of the food on the ground, 22 Rock Doves were counted. 

Tuesday 30th January

Yesterday morning, Chris Mills had seen a couple of Fulmars in, soaring along the front of the crag, this evening the wind has picked up a bit and swirling around, the wind is not too clever tomorrow either ... Bob had 10 Greenfinch in his garden the other day. Yesterday, Bob had 49 Scaup along at Cash Kelly's/ Blackrock on Loch Indaal.
Here at home, on the big bench this afternoon where the wee birds normally feed, well the Sparrowhawk was sitting as if it owned the said bench and on the ground on the other side, a male Pheasant quite oblivious to the Sparrowhawk less than 6 feet away, just as well that the Pheasant was busy looking for seeds on the ground.. and they were there for over a couple of minutes with my camera away out of the way!!! It was the Sparrowhawk who moved away first...and no there were no wee birds around watching!!!

Wednesday 15th November

Yesterday, Gary had been out with some clients, a great day to be out plus they had some great sightings thrown in, so here are some of their best sightings. At Coal Ila, they saw a couple of Otters out in the Sound of Islay, what a start... While they were there a White tailed Eagle and then a Golden Eagle were also seen, along the road and over the hills behind Ballygrant, another White tailed Eagle was present. From Blackrock, out on Loch Indaal they had seen a Red throated Diver, only 5 feet from where they were parked up, GNDs, Common Scoter, 3 Long tailed Duck, Slavonian Grebe and the flock of Scaup as well. Along at Rockside they had 2 small Canada Geese and also the larger Canada, Todd's goose amongst the Barnies and Whitefronts present there.

This morning, Gary dropped in for a cuppa and a natter, who else came by but this female Sparrowhawk who happily sat on the old sack barrow outside the kitchen window while I managed to get the above, could be a bit clearer but taken through the double glazed window. Earlier on,  Gary had seen the Snow Bunting down on Machir Bay and also found a dead Common Gull with BTO ring on... Mandy had seen some Whitefronts over at Carnduncan with collars fitted but too far off to read, she has also had a couple of Greenfinches on her feeders at Carnduncan itself.

Sunday 26th March

Yesterday, Peter had a count of 32 Pale bellied Brent down at Bruichladdich, but no signs of any with rings on...Returning birders, John Dawson and Kenny Buchan are back for another Islay fix.. On the road leading up to Scarrabus they saw several Stonechats, a flock of Yellowhammers, Song Thrush, Reed Bunting, displaying Lapwing, Raven, Siskin, and many Geese.

Here at home today, I saw our first Wheatear hopping along the ground with a male Stonechat perched on top of the fence. A pair of Greenfinches were on the feeders along with Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Great Tit, Blue Tit, House Sparrow and the odd Dunnock making numbers up. Great to see... Out on top of the crag, a Buzzard was sitting, watching everything on the move and then early evening a Peregrine flew along the front of the crag, what a day...

Remember, the Islay Bird nerds will be meeting at 6pm on Tuesday evening at the old hide, out from the viewing platform at Gruinart...so feel free to come along , if you are around.

WEdnesday 22nd March

Got a bit of a shock when I looked out the bedroom window this morning, not snow but the grass was white with frost which we do not get here that often...

This morning on the bird table we saw 3 Greenfinches, the first for a long time, in fact the first this winter...A Sparrowhawk zipped through the garden just after lunch. Later on, coming home a male Bullfinch flew into the trees beside Foreland House and a short while later on, a pair of Golden Eagles were added to the list. Over at The Woollen Mill, many Great Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tits and Chaffinches were present on the feeders there, a great sight to see... I read last night that a Blue Tit was seen on Fair Isle, only the FOURTH ever record of one present there!!!

Gary today had 2 Siskin on his feeders at his house along the road from the turn off to Finlaggan. Along at Emeraconart, he had seen a Sparrowhawk. A visitor had been telling Gary of seeing a Wheatear at Machir Bay while Tom and Mike, the 2 longterm vols at Gruinart, had spotted 2 more Wheatears along at Saligo today as well.

Thursday 10th November

Yesterday, visitors Mark and Sally had seen a Merlin in Bowmore, they were in their car in the car park/ lay by down below where Islay Farmers used to trade from at Bun an Uisg. The Merlin was flying along above the road from Shore Street and then it veered off inland once it came along towards them...Along the flats at Gruinart, they saw a ringtail Hen Harrier. Up from the viewing platform, they saw a Woodcock and then later on  top of a telegraph pole  between Woodside and and Gruinart Farm, a Great spotted Woodpecker was sitting!!! On a run round the Rhinns, they had a mixed flock of Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing and a Mistle Thrush. This morning they saw a Merlin coming inland at Gartmain and just past the Gaelic College, 49 Pale bellied Brent were present. Over on the shore at Bruichladdich, Mark and Sally saw 4 Purple Sandpiper and also 4 Barwits. This afternoon, Bob saw 7 Greenfinches over at Kilchoman

Friday 28th October

Returning visitor to Islay, Robin Sutton dropped in for a quick catch up this morning. Yesterday, Robin had seen 3 Grey Plover and a male Snow Bunting on the East side of Loch Gruinart. This morning, he saw a Long tailed Duck on Loch Indaal as well as 8 Slavonian Grebes and also 4 GND. Back on Tuesday, Robin had a juv. White tailed Eagle out from Blackrock and the next day up towards Killinallan, an exhausted juv. Golden Eagle on the ground recharging its' batteries after being mobbed by Jackdaws and also a couple of Ravens... Lee Thickett had a Goldcrest in the trees around the cottage where he has been staying. As he prepared to pack his car up late this morning, a group of 12 Chough were watching him from the apex of the roof on the cottage next door!!! John Wilson today had been down on the Oa where he had a large mixed flock of around 50 Linnet and around 320 Twite. Also seen on the Oa were 3 Greenfinch and also a Merlin. Over at Ardbeg, John had seen a Treecreeper and also 2 Bullfinch. On Loch Indaal, John counted 58 Scaup. Yesterday, on a run round the Rhinns, he had seen an imm Golden Eagle, less than 30 metres away from the car!!!! Mandy this afternoon had seen a group of 7 Whoopers flying South past Machir Bay, 8 Greenland Whitefronts dropping down in to Kilchiaran. At the top (North) end of Machir Bay, Mandy had 41 Common Gull, 2 GBB Gull, 7 Herring Gull and a single Oystercatcher. We had 2 sets of Whoopers fly South today as well, a 9 and also another group of 14 later on.

Thursday 13th October

Gerry Dopler had also seen the Red backed Shrike on Tuesday afternoon over past the Coille roadend. Richard Belter had gone over to Colonsay yesterday and saw a Greenland Wheatear there, and this morning he saw a Northern Wheatear up at Sanaigmore. James saw a Jack Snipe on the reserve at Gruinart this morning. At Carnain, the Hampshire birders had seen 2 Greenfinch, 2 Wrens on the wall, Goldfinches and Stonechats as well. Along at Blackrock, Scaup were spotted out on Loch Indaal with a ringtail Hen Harrier over the raised beach past Uiskentuie. The Bowland Birders had been up at Sanaigmore, no Snow Buntings or Shrike, but saw a Golden Eagle soar past lazily. On Loch Gorm 12 Tufted Duck were present with 4 Whoopers still on the stubbles at Rockside. At Gruinart, a Merlin and 12 Whitefronts were seen. Here at home, late afternoon, 17 Chough graced us with a flypast!!!

Thursday 7th July

Forgot to mention the other night, the rainfall figure for June came to a nice round 3.00 inches, very similar to June last year. Think quite a lot of that total must have fallen while we were away! Not much to report on the bird front tonight, it may have been dry today, but looks as if there could be a wee change coming our way plus the wind could be picking up a little, does not bode well for a proposed Corncrake count later on  tonight, might not get done. There may have been a few Greenfinches seen here at home recently, while there have not been as many Chaffinches around...

Wednesday 11th May

Another glorious day out here today, earlier this morning Carol Kirkwood on the BBC weather forecast  stated that at that point Islay was hottest place in the UK, and that was before 8am... Possibly all contributors have gone sunbathing today as not a lot to report so far. Last night when we down watching the Hawfinch, there were also 3 Siskins present along with Chaffinches, Goldfinches and a couple of Greenfinches as well. Here at home today, there was a Lesser Redpoll and a couple of Greenfinches apart from our usual Goldfinches etc. This evening along at Rockside on the barley fields were 38 Greylags while at Ballinaby, 10 Golden Plover and 4 Dunlin were seen. Speaking with Bob last night, we were both of the same opinion that we thought that there were more Cuckoos around this year...  The Bowland birders today had seen the Garganey drake on the left hand flood in front of the viewing platform. Also there were 2 Whoopers. Along at the North hide/new hide/ Taigh Tuath, 3 Ruff were spotted along with a Snipe and a Mistle Thrush. A walk round Ardnave Point produced 5 Little Terns & 2 Sandwich Terns. There was also a steady movement of Arctic Terns, around 1 flew past every minute for over an hour. Other birds seen included 60 Barwits, 30 Ringed Plover, 25 Sanderling, 7 Dunlin and 6 Whimbrel. Back at the steading , 2 different Corncrakes were heard with a pair of Tufties seen on the Loch

Sunday 14th February

Gary  had been working out in his garden the other day and while he was there, he had 4 Buzzards up in the air, one of them escorted a Golden Eagle on its' way! On Friday on Loch Indaal, close to Bowmore, Gary had 170 Barwits, 5 Knot, numerous Curlews , Oystercatchers, Dunlins and Ringed Plovers with around 230 Wigeon as well. Out from the Gaelic centre, a Slav Grebe and 20 Common Scoter were seen. Yesterday, Gary had been over at Claggain Bay seeing a flock of Golden Plover and also 2 White tailed Eagles as well a Golden Eagle. Out towards Ardtalla, a flock of 20 Twite and also another 2 Golden Eagles. Yesterday, George and Pat Jackson had seen a Treecreeper in Bridgend woods with a Cormorant flying over the woods too. Along at the Woollen Mill, the feeders there were busy with around 20 Tits and also many Chaffinches. The Rochdale birders are back again, and at Gortan yesterday had a small mumeration of around 50 or so Starlings flying in formation, only to be split by a Peregrine. As they were in traffic and they could not stop to see the outcome!!! Bob yesterday had counted 117 Lapwing at Carn, Port Charlotte, a male Hen Harrier seen at Torrabus and Peregrine over Loch Skerrols. This morning, Bob saw 6 Whoopers flying North. Here at home, Margaret spotted a Greenfinch on the feeders, the first here for some time! Just  seen the ISS pass over, be round again in 90 minutes again...

Tuesday 29th December

If it was windy yesterday, well tonight as I write the blog I think that "Storm Frank" is knocking at the door with the top wind speed being 66.9 mph at 18.27, being at the top of the hill does not help!!! Visiting George Jackson had seen a Merlin at Grainel roadend as he headed over to Gruinart, in the forlorn hope of catching the Green winged Teal and the American Wigeon, no joy on either front... Down on Machir Bay, George had 30 Ringed Plover and 7 Sanderling. Here at home, a Greenfinch on the feeders and also yesterday late afternoon there were 20 Lapwing dipping around in the wind.