Sunday 1st September

Might as well put you all out of your misery,.. Yes, August has turned out to be the wettest month so far for 2019, only a mere 6.25 inches in total, so it was just as well that I emptied out the gauge before the end of the  month, as I doubt that it would not have held it all...

Today, "JD" has been out and about... At Frenchman's Rocks, he had a Whimbrel and also a Great Skua. At Gruinart, he saw 8 juv. Ruff, 48 juv. Black tailed Godwit and a Greenshank, up at Ardnave, he counted 12 Greenland Wheatear and saw another 8 on his travels. Finally, on his way back to his cottage, he counted 18 Mistle Thrush at Gearach/ Gleann Mor.

Saturday 31st August

Well, in some ways it turned out a better day than I expected, in the aspect that it did stop raining and has so far remained dry since then.. Wait for the monthly figure which I will have for you tomorrow...

Old friend "JD" is back over for another "Islay bird fix".. Coming over to where he is staying on the Rhinns early afternoon, he had a count of 89 Red Knot at the head of Loch Indaal. Later on in the afternoon, a visit to Gruinart provided him with the following birds seen and counted...112 Red Knot , 96 Blackwit, 4 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 16 Turnstone, 12 Pintail, a juvenile Peregrine,   a ringtail Hen Harrier. Up the East side of Loch Gruinart, he had 6 Greenland Wheatears as well as plenty of Dunlin, Sanderling, Barwits, and also Ringed Plover all seen but not counted. As he drove around "JD" had seen another 6 Greenland Wheatears.

Friday 26th April

A bit colder out here today, glad to have a jersey to wear...

Distillery Dave had seen 4 Canada Geese, a Barnacle goose and 10 Greylags on the newly germinated Barley fields at Rockside this morning. An early morning walk by Mike along the track to Bolsay gave him his first Whinchat for the year. He also had 5 Sedge Warblers and 2 Groppers while out on his walk. James had a Ruff on the reserve at Gruinart. Also seen were 24 Barnies, 4 Whitefronts and a Greylag with a neck collar fitted. On one of the grass fields at Rockside, George E Jackson had seen 34 Golden Plover and 7 Barwits and also a count of 13 Whimbrel. Mark Shields had seen a few Whinchats when he was carrying out his survey work today. Peter Gill had a count of 80 Golden Plover in a field down at the Coastguard cottages early afternoon, earlier on he had seen a male Hen Harrier and at the visitor centre at Gruinart he had 6 House Martins. Mike this afternoon when along at smelly corner had a Greenland Wheatear and also a Northern Wheatear which was great for being able to compare them. Back at home in Port Charlotte, Mike had seen 2 White Wagtails, he also commented on the Common Sandpipers being back as well.

Tuesday 8th May

Yesterday, on the reserve at Gruinart, James How had seen 3 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Cuckoo, 3 Stonechat, 7 Whitethroat, and 3 Whinchat with a count of 335 Dunlin on the floods. Today, James had 33 Blackwit on the floods and a Little Tern seen out on Loch Gruinart itself.  Visiting birder Zul Bhatia today had 8 P bb Geese on the beach just North of Bruichladdich, they then flew off out on to Loch  Indaal. There was also an Arctic Tern perched on a rock there. Round at Whinpark out on the shoreline he had seen 2 Sanderling with 54 Dunlin counted there in one of the muddy inlets. Yesterday evening, James Bucher had counted 343 Dunlin,  23 Blackwit, 25 Ringed Plover and also saw a Curlew Sandpiper out on the floods at Gruinart. Gary had heard 4 different Corncrakes calling down behind Bruichladdich last night. Andrew and Amanda had seen many Gannets streaming past Frenchman's rocks, 8 Whimbrel seen there too. Also seen by them were several Common gull, a rare bird to them.. Eider and also 10 Turnstone were noted at Currie Sands . A Cuckoo flew past them as they drove back to their holiday cottage. This evening, here at home, by chance we saw a Peregrine perched up on the crag, earlier we saw a Kestrel away far away out above the crag, and I counted a small flock of 23 Linnet on the piece of worked ground where we had some bird seed sown on Sunday. There was also a Greenland Wheatear there as well. I took the chance today and sowed the Bumblebee mix, up beside the house, so we wait in hope for both the 2 small plots producing the goods, the bumblebee mix should also be quite colourful as well. Distillery Dave had seen 34 Whimbrel round at Ballinaby with 3  Blackwit on the pools beside the gate to Smaull.

Monday 3rd October

Sorry folks about the lack of the blog over the weekend, but fingers crossed the problem has been identified and hopefully should not arise again, see these computers....

Back on Friday, Mary was bringing the sheep in at Claddach at Portnahaven when she saw a tight flock of 13 Snipe fly overhead. On Saturday, along with some friends we walked round Ardnave Point. We had 5 Barnies out on Nave Island, 4 Greenland  Wheatear, a close sighting of a Merlin chasing a Meadow Pipit, 35 Chough, and  a Ruff were our top birds, we had around 35 species on our walk, great company, the craic was good too... not forgetting our sandwiches either!!! Mandy counted 160 Pale bellied Brent up at Bun an Uillt on Loch Gruinart. Mike Peacock returned home on Saturday, and saw a pod of 8 Bottle nosed Dolphins in the bay at Port Charlotte below his house. On Sunday morning, Mike counted 34 Common Scoter out on Loch Indaal. Around midday on Sunday, Mandy had seen 60 Barnies on Loch Gorm, and then 44 Pale bellied Brent at the head of Loch Indaal later on that afternoon. We saw a Wheatear on the road at Ballinaby on Sunday morning with Dave Maynard from RSPB spotting 2 Golden Eagles soaring out behind Ballinaby. This morning, Bob had seen an adult White tailed Sea Eagle on the wing, between his house and Port Charlotte. He also saw a couple of Hen Harriers and several Golden Plover. This morning at Gruinart, James saw 12 Barnies, 15 Greenland whitefronts, 5 Whooper Swans, 965 Teal and a Peregrine. Yesterday out from the North Hide (new hide) we saw a flock of several hundred Golden Plover. Finally some sightings from Gary and Wendy, "the Hampshire birders". At their holiday cottage at Carnain they had 30 Pied Wagtail coming in to  roost in their garden, today they had a ringtail Hen Harrier fly over the cottage and they saw a Dabchick at Loch Skerrols. We had been over the The Woollen Mill and saw several Coal Tits and Great Tits on the feeders there, well worth a visit...

Almost forgot, the rain gauge was emptied out here the other day, and it had a mere 4 inches in it.. our good friends who live at Mulindry had a lot more rain than us, with their tally coming to 6.68 inches for the month....

Friday 9th September

Rather a blustery day with strong winds blowing this evening. Gary this morning had seen 2 Pale bellied Brent Geese over at Port Ellen, along with a mixed flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover. Along at the pontoons, Gary counted 3 GGB Gulls and also 45 Herring Gulls resting up. Returning from Port Ellen along the low road, Gary had several small flights of Snipe over the road. Jim Dickson arrived over today for his "Islay September stayover". On the ferry coming over Jim had a Pomarine Skua and saw the Brents when he arrived at Port Ellen. Over the sewage/ water treatment works on the edge of Bowmore, Jim counted 15 Sand Martins and also lots of Swallows. At "smelly corner",  Jim had 2 Arctic Terns, 4 White Wagtails and 6 Knot. Along at Uiskentuie, close in to the shore, he had a Manx Shearwater. Up at Gruinart, he counted 29 Blackwits, 8 Barwits, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and 53 Pale bellied Brent as well as, at least 15 Greenland Wheatear. Finally, Jim had seen 60 Goldfinch at the Coull farm road end and then a female Sparrowhawk over the wee wood at Kilchoman. This afternoon, Bob had spent some time in the new hide at Gruinart where he saw 2 drake Pintail in eclipse plumage, 10 Wigeon, 3 Shoveler and 80 Teal.

Sunday 14th September

Last week, James had been down in Leeds at a RSPB conference, his highlight was seeing Nuthatches, Jays and also 3 Red Kites... coming home on the ferry on Friday afternoon, he spotted a White tailed Sea Eagle as the ferry came up the Sound of Islay towards Port Askaig. Visiting birders Susan and John Kirkman, yesterday had done the walk from Bowmore down to Gartberck around midday. Their birds were as follows, mixed flock of 30 Curlew and Whimbrel, 7 Mute Swan, 1 female Red breated Merganser, odd Ringed Plovers, 60 Oysterctatcher, several flocks of Starlings numbering between 100 and 300 in total, 50 Dunlin, 50 Sanderling, 10 Gannets (several plunging into Loch Indaal), 50 Greylags, many Rock Pipits and Pied Wagtails, a "fine" Greenland Wheatear, ringtail Hen Harrier at Gartbreck itself, about 60 Stonechats, 50 Linnets, a large flock of around 1,000 finches in from Gartbreck with Goldfinches, Twite and Brambling being seen, 50 Atlantic Seals were seen on their walk. On Friday, down at Portnahaven, they also had seen another large mixed of finches. Susan and John also noted Pied Wagtails everywhere, as were Stonechats, Whinchats, Collared Doves, Starlings and House Sparrows, many of which they do not see back home in Sheffield in such numbers. Today, Bob had a male Merlin over at Bolsa.

Tuesday 1st October

Yesterday, Sam and Garry had been over at the Sound of Islay. Looking over towards Jura they spotted a couple of Buzzards, then a moment later a Golden Eagle came into view, and then to cap it all a White tailed Sea Eagle to put the icing on the cake. Later on in the water, they had an Otter! This morning we had a great sunrise, click on the link to the INHT and look at the image taken by Malcolm this morning! September is now behind us with the rainfall tallying through at 4.1", last year it over 6" if memory serves me right! Today Peter had 4 Guillemots close inshore at Bruichladdich, with 5 Common Scoter and a RTD further out. Here at home there were 3 Buzzards out above the crag first thing this morning. After breakfast, there were a few Swallows hawking along past the trees and this afternoon down at Rockside a Greenland Wheatear was present.

Thursday 12th September

Yesterday, Paul and Kathleen had a Greenshank and 5 Blackwits over at Loch Gruinart. The other day, here at home we had 2 White wagtails out on the grass. Today, before the weather closed in, we had a count of 40 Golden Plover at Coull and earlier on a male Hen Harrier out on the wing round below Leek, over the far side of Loch Gorm. This afternoon the raft of Scaup were still at Gartmain, the exact number I am not sure of. There were also 4 Whoopers there too. James had 3 Greenland Wheatears at Gruinart as well as 3 Rock Pipits.

Sunday 28th April

Emily from RSPB took this image of the Little Egret yesterday just after Ardbeg. Along at Kildalton Cross, she heard a Cuckoo calling, and later at the Singing sands, Emily had seen a Greenland Wheatear. Yesterday David and Jane Griffiths had heard a Cuckoo calling up towards Solum, it was calling for some time! They also had a Golden Eagle being mobbed by a Raven. The Argyll birder is back over for the week. He had a great start today with a count of 620 Blackwits over at Gruinart, a possible new record for Argyll, also at Gruinart he had a pr of Gadwall, pr Pintail and 12 Shoveler, along at Lyrabus a female Merlin was added to his list. In Port Ellen Bay, 4 GND were seen and Loch Indaal had 2 GND and 2 Common Scoter. At Bruichladdich, 4 Turnstone, 2 Dunlin, 1 Purple Sandpiper,4 Sandwich Tern,1 Arctic Tern and a Whimbrel. A further 19 Whimbrel were seen at Nerabus. Martin has been busy this weekend. On his feeders and in his garden, the tally was 6 Siskin, 5 Redpoll, 22 Goldfinch, 8 Greenfinch, 28 Chaffinch, 14 House Sparrows, 4 Dunnocks, 2 Collared Doves, 5 Rock Doves, 5 Coal Tit, 4 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit, 2 Rooks, 2 Ravens (new garden tick for Martin) and a Willow Warbler. From the bridge over the River Laggan on the High road, Martin had seen 2 Heron, 1 Willow Warbler and 5 Common Sandpiper. Peter and Pia just returned earlier this evening from a short break in the Highlands with Pia getting a new lifer, a male and also a female Capercallie. Back here on Islay, they had a count of 76 Pale bellied Brent Geese down at Gortan, 5 had coloured rings on.

Tuesday 18th September

Another miserable sort of a day. The weather forecaster this morning even mentioned snow on the high hills, but that was on the mainland...Tom and Jo who are over for a fortnight send some sightings through last night. Coming over on the ferry on Monday evening they had a Leach's Petrel as well as 2 Manx Shearwater, 5 Black Guillemot, 6 Razorbill, 15 Guillemot, 3 Kittiwake and several Gannets. In the Sound of Islay itself, they had a Red throated Diver and a Black Guillemot. Today, they had a Ringtail Hen Harrier over towards Neriby. Down close to Gortan, they saw 2 Sandwich Terns, a single Pale bellied Brent Goose and a Bar tailed Godwit. Further on at Portnahaven they had 2 Wheatears, with several Gannets and Manx Shearwater offshore. There was a single Greenland Wheatear just past the spit on Loch Indaal this morning, and coming home a Stonechat on one of the stay wires of a telegraph pole just before we got to Rockside. 9 Shelduck were down at "smelly corner".

Wed 8th Sept

Our visiting birder had turned up trumps for us again today. Over at Loch Gruinart this morning, he had 9 Sandwich Terns, 2 juvenile Common Terns, 3 Greenshank and 2 Pintail. Round Loch Gorm he had a count of 16 Wheatear including a few Greenland Wheatear. As the tide was coming in this afternoon on Gruinart, the American Golden Plover was still present, 1 Golden Plover, 2 Little Stint, 8 Curlew Sandpiper and 14 Black tailed Godwit. Hope he remembered it was his wife's birthday today.....

Fri 14th May

A better day over here today, and the temperature is back into double figures again!
Caught this Wheatear round Loch Gorm this evening. The number of times I have tried to get an image of one close at hand but with no luck. But tonight this one decided to sit on the post and not fly off as they normally do... There were 3 Greenland Wheatear in the barley field round at Ballinaby and several Northern Wheatear were seen on our way round Loch Gorm. A few more Stonechats were present, and at Rockside road end there were 44 Linnet. Back at home over the past week, there have been more Goldfinch present and a few Greenfinch too.

George had 12 Great Northern Diver displaying on Loch Indaal yesterday in front of his house. Today he had 5 Turnstone, in full summer plumage, down on the shoreline and a late pair of Shelduck looking for a possible nest site. George also saw 3 Ringed Plover chicks scurrying about. George had a Redpoll, while he had his first Greenfinch for the year on his bird table. Another returning bird to his table was the Lesser Black backed Gull, it normally returns in June but is early this year. George reckons that this is the same Gull which came first of all back in 2005.

Sun 9th May

This Curlew was over on the moss round at Ballinaby this evening. Down at Rockside there were 38 Greylag Geese on a grass field, 10 on a Barley field at Ballinaby and a further 10 down on one of the lochans beside Loch Gorm, and these were all in groups rather than being paired up!

Also at Ballinaby were 12 Greenland Wheatear and later on were some Northern Wheatear too. There were still 18 Golden Plover to be found in the furrows of a ploughed field.

I have not seen Barnies of late or any Greenland Whitefronts, so perhaps they have all moved on now. There are still no House Martins to be seen here at home, as of yet. We were also commenting on the low numbers of Stonechats.

Sun 3rd May

With April now past, the rainfall for the month was just short of 5" in total, a lot wetter than April last year, infact some of the fields may still not be sown yet.

Back to birds, and James had a Little Grebe down in front of the hide this morning, and he also saw 5 Greenland Whitefronts there too. Earlier on in the week, James had seen a pair of Short eared Owls, as well as a Whinchat.

One of our visiting birders, Gordon Yates has gone home, so thanks to Gordon and Pauline for their input. Another visitor from the Lothians had seen 99 species whilst over for the week, perhaps he got lucky on the ferry to round it up to 100!

Down at the Coastguard Houses, the other day we were fortunate to see a Greenland Wheatear in full plumage, and I have been receiving reports of several more Corncrakes being heard.

Sat 4th Oct

This afternoon the weather has calmed down a bit, and a settled sky showed itself off, not a cloud to be seen over here!

James has been busy counting the Geese, this morning at 10.30am, there were only 2425 Barnacle Geese and 32 Whitefronts, but by 5.30 this afternoon it was a different story. The figures had shot up to 26,625 Barnies, 205 Whitefronts, 8 Pinkfoots, 21 Pale bellied Brent, 2 Canada, hutchinsii sp, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Greenland Wheatear and 32 Pied Wagtail all in one flock. All these birds were on the reserve at Loch Gruinart and James reckons that there were at least another 8,000 Geese at Craigens. I queried James on his geese figures and he assured me that he counts in 5s, so who am I to doubt his figures? JRH

James also said that these figures were a record for the reserve. The vast majority of the birds that came in were coming up from the South, similar to yesterday, and certainly here at home, there were a lot flying up the West coast of Islay. George also had seen a lot of the Geese flying up Loch Indaal. So can we presume that all these birds had overshot Islay with the strong winds of late? James said that there were some birds flying in from the North, from the Colonsay direction. Malcolm e mailed to say there had been a record back in the 60s of a Greenland rung bird being recovered in the Azores.

George also had a Red throated Diver in Loch Indaal off Bruichladdich., and Macolm had a couple of Swallows again in Bruichladdich. GJ MAO

Mon 18th Aug

Another cracking image taken by Michal with his new camera.....

While it was dry yesterday, James had a quick look round the Gruinart reserve and counted 1048 Greylag Geese, a Peregrine, a Wheatear, 2660 Dunlin, 118 Knot, 309 Ringed Plover and 25 Sanderling. The Dunlin count was as high as James can remember for Gruinart. JRH

Over at Carnduncan, this afternoon there was a single Wheatear, while this morning there was a Sparrowhawk over the trees at home, this evening the House Martins and Swallows are out on the wing feeding on anything on the move over the same trees.

Thurs 13th March

As we have it, breaking news just in from Andy Schofield, of the sighting this morning of his first male Wheatear of the season, down between Aros House and Kintour over at Ardtalla on the SouthEast coast of Islay. He also had his first Whimbrel, again this morning. The previous piece about the Wheatear and Whimbrel was entered at lunchtime, but since then Andy has had an Australian Black Swan this afternoon over at Claggain Bay, no doubt an escapee from somewhere although if memory serves me correctly there was one over on Colonsay a few years back! Yesterday, the Bar headed Goose was seen amongst the Barnies over at the back of Kilnaughton Bay. RAS

There were another 4 Whooper Swan flying North up Loch Indaal yesterday, and a male Hen Harrier was seen out quartering up the back of Bruichladdich. GJ

This morning there was a female Hen Harrier out after the recent winds, on the way over to RSPB Loch Gruinart. IKB

A Barn Owl was seen out hunting about 10 o'clock at Island Farm on the Low road between Bowmore and Port Ellen last Friday night. Dave P.

Sat 5th May 07

This is an image taken late afternoon on Thursday 19th April. There were over 560 pale bellied Brent Geese in total on Loch Indaal, a record for Islay!

Three rung birds were observed and all traced back to having been rung in Northern Ireland. The following morning, they had all gone, an impressive sight while they were here. I.K.B.

A group of 7 Greenland Wheatears were seen on Gruinart Reserve as well as the Spotted Redshank. At Bruichladdich there were 2 late Purple Sandpipers, a Common Tern and an Arctic Tern. J.R.H. and G.J.