Friday 4th June

Before I forget, I saw a House Martin flying past yesterday aftenoon, no sign of it today, possibly because of the fact that it was not as warm, and not so many insects around for it to eat.... 

I saw a small charm of 4 Goldfinches here at home this afternoon which was great to see, especially as one of them was showing off its' BTO leg ring. And then the local male House Sparrow came past, it too has a BTO leg ring on it as well...

Thursday 30th April

Matt Jackson sent me the following birds seen by himself over the past few days...

"I had an Osprey by Loch Gorm on my way into work this morning, not far this side of Sunderland Farm. It had a huge trout still flapping in its talons! The House Martins have been back investigation my nest box today (they had a look last week then disappeared again) and there has been a Wheatear in the garden all week - it’s had a couple of altercations with its reflection in the window!" 

Matt also sent this one relating to the corncrakes around now...

"I also had heard a Corncrake from the house here at Rockside this afternoon."

I also believe that he was really fortunate to see a food pass between a pair of Hen Harriers earlier on this week.

Thursday 16th April

David Barr was in touch back on Monday saying that he had just seen a Green Woodpecker when out with his 2 dogs over at Lochearnhead that morning...

Mandy has had a great day with the birds around where she lives on Islay...

"This morning I had the Redwing again in the tree at the rear of her house, sunning itself. Late afternoon, just sitting in my front garden listening to a starling going through its repertoire of the usual buzzard, curlew, crow, raven, gull, blackbird etc., then it threw in a bleating lamb!Exceptionally good. If it wasn't coming from the roof I'd have believed it was real ...And it has just did a chough too! And I've seen the willow warbler, appropriately enough in my willow in the front garden😄. Just heard a second willow warbler up here, one is calling close by and a second further away 😊"

Dr Matt Jackson had been down at Machir Bay, late afternoon

"Was out for my authorised bought of exercise this evening and heard my first Corncrake of the year down by the parking area at the beach at Machir Bay! There were also quite a number (20+) of what seemed to be mixed sand and house martins among the dunes along the middle and south end of the beach."

Sunday 18th August

On Friday morning, George E. Jackson had seen a juv. Stonechat on the garden fence at "Horizons", one the bungalows at Rockside road end.. Shortly afterwards, between the Coastguard's cottages and  Machir Bay, George had a male Stonechat, carrying a beakfull of food, so probably for its' young close at hand.... Early evening back along at "Horizons", there were around 10 Swallows  and in with them a couple of House Martins, which had a good inspection  of the nest box which son Matthew has put up... Time yet, possibly to get a late brood away???

Malcolm yesterday had seen 6 Turnstones, the first seen by him this Summer/Autumn. They were down close to Gortan, along from the coal yard.

Over at Gruinart, James had seen 37 Knot, 12 Blackwits, 3 Greenshank and a Peregrine, all yesterday.

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.

Wednesday 10th April

Yesterday, Jeff  Duncan had seen a Golden Eagle on a carcass less than 30 metres from the road as he was driving down to Machir bay, no need for the bins for that one, Jeff... Also yesterday, Ed Burrell , an old chum from a few years back, and now an Islay resident, had seen 2 Swallows as he was out rolling some fields. Ed was also saying that he has been seen a lot of Wheatears around and also a Blackcap as well.
Today, Mandy has making the most of the weather sitting out in her garden up at Carnduncan where she has been hearing a Chiffchaff calling away.  James e mailed through to say that there  have been "loads of reports" of sightings of Sand Martins and Swallows seen at Gruinart,  Ardnave and also at Loch Skerrols. There was a House Martin present up at Ardnave. James was also telling me that the geese are slowly moving North, with geese seen around Islay "noticeably less" in numbers now.

Wednesday 3rd April

Quite a bit of catching up with some sightings, so here we go, all seen yesterday

Alistair Hart had done a sea watch down at Frenchman's Rocks, a  "blisteringly cold watch".... A walk along Currie sands produced Skylarks singing with Mipits, some Linnets and a charm of Goldfinches noted there as well. Out to sea, the passage of Gannets was from South to North. Other birds seen included Fulmar, Kitiwake, a small groupof 4 Manx Shearwaters, Tysties, Guillemots and also Razorbills. On the rocks there, Alistair had a group of 20 Purple Sandpipers, a species usually seen at Bruichladdich. Another interesting piece of news was that he had sun, sleet and also a rainbow while he was out!!! In the afternoon, Al had a pair of Dippers and also a pair of GreyWagtatils onthe River Sorn in Bridgend Woods. Down at Buichladdich, he had 2 Ringed Plover and another 3 Purple Sandpipers.

Mike e mailed his sightings through to say that the Bait fish were back in Loch Indaal with Kittiwakes, Herring Gulls and Common Gulls all feeding on the surface. They were joined by 64 Razorbills, 91 Common Scoters, 6 RTD, 3 GND and also 27 R b Mergansers. Along at Foreland , Mike had seen a Peacock butterfly out on the wing.

Gill Gooch was in touch to remind me that her husband is Martin, not Graham of "The Goodies" fame....Oops, sorry another howler from me AGAIN!!! They had spent a very productive day in at Finlaggan, especially as this was their first visit when the visitor centre was open, enjoying much appreciated cups of coffee and gleaned a lot of information from the helpful, friendly staff there as well.... Birds seen included 2 White tailed Eagles soaring together, a Golden Eagle, Merlin, a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Sparrowhawk, numerous Buzzards, a lovely Grey Wagtail and then they saw a House Martin, and  also a pair of displaying Ravens. Later on, they had watched a  male Hen Harrier out quartering its patch over beside the Airport.

Phill, down on the RSPB reserve on the Oa, had seen 4 Chough and a Carrion Crow. David Wood saw a Blackcap on the track leading up to Kinnabus.

Think that will do for tonight folks...

Saturday 21st April

Another wee cracker of a day with the weather, but for how long, well that could be a different matter

Peter had seen a pair of Little Terns at the top of Loch Indaal, round towards Bridgend.. Pia had heard her first Cuckoo calling at  Foreland on Thursday. Tim and Em Halliday are back over for another Islay fix...and saw  a pair of House Martin in the air at Ardbeg and also heard a Cuckoo calling away  up behind the cottage where they are staying in, Fairy cottage out towards Ardtalla.

Saturday 31st March

Yesterday was Andy and Martin's last day of their visit. They saw a House Martin over the pool at Carnain. Beside the pool on the left of the road as you head to the airport, after Duich, they saw a possible Marsh Harrier. Out below the airport on Loch Indaal, but really close to the shore they saw a pod of Bottle nosed Dolphins. Up at the Woollen Mill, they had some Long tailed Tits on the feeders and then a total of 3 Grey Wagtails were present on the River there.

Today was Richard's last full day of this visit... Up on the beach at Sanaigmore some Ringed Plover were seen and then coming back from Sanaigmore, a ringtail Hen Harrier was spotted.  Over at Finlaggan, he saw a White tailed Eagle and also a total of 7 Crossbills. At Ballygrant Hall, Richard had 2 Bullfinches and then down close to Avonvoggie, another ringtail Hen Harrier. Up on Ardnave Loch,  he saw a female Goldeneye and on his way back down to Gruinart, a male Hen Harrier. As ever, many thanks to Richard, Andy and Martin for sharing their sightings with us.

Al Hart is back over for the week with his family. This morning, on Loch Indaal, out from the Coal yard, he saw the second year Glaucous Gull. Also present were 2 Sandwich Tern and also 6 Pale bellied Brent Geese with some Skylark. Back down at Bruichladdich, the 4 Purple Sandpiper were still present. Here at home, I had our wee tractor out, making the most of the dry spell of weather, and made a start to working the area of ground where we hope to sow a crop for the birds to feed on in the Autumn. This evening we counted 31 Chough as they flew into the roost..

Monday 20th March

It was meant to be the first day of Spring today, it certainly did not feel like it...and the weather does not look too promising tomorrow either !!!

Mike Peacock yesterday saw a Sand Martin and also a House Martin at RSPB Gruinart, both the first report as far as I know for Islay this year. Mike also saw a male and female Peregrine Falcon thee too, as well as a White tailed Eagle.

Monday 23rd May

Wall to wall sunshine, although there is a slight edge to the air, at  least it has stayed dry... Later on tonight, all going well, tonight around midnight, some of us will be going out and around Islay, trying to hear any Corncrakes that may be calling, so fingers crossed and I will let you know tomorrow evening how we got on...

Here at home I saw my first Wren for some time, a Greenfinch was in at bird feeders, a Reed Bunting flew past and late afternoon, a House Martin was in the sky. Earlier on a couple of Sand Martins touched down briefly on the road outside the house. Yesterday, we saw another hen Pheasant out with young chicks, this one had 9 youngsters, wonder how this one will finish off with...

Tuesday 12th april

A bit cooler than yesterday, along with some rain which was still coming down early afternoon... Becca, a long term "vol" with RSPB here on Islay had seen an Osprey while down on the Oa yesterday. Today, Bob Swann had seen a House Martin over the pool at Carnain, a Cackling Goose amongst the Barnies at Leorin and also 7 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Blackrock. Armin had been on the walk today out round Laggan Point, birds seen/ heard included Willow Warbler, Buzzard, Chiffchaff, 1 Eider, 6 GND, Shelduck, Shag & Redshank.

Tuesday 15th September

Another glorious day out here, possibly not the hottest.. but there again you should have seen the stars last night... just great! Some sightings through from Jim Dickson. On Sunday, Jim had a Grey wagtail at Bruichladdich, 6 Wheatear between Gorm and Gruinart (including 2 Greenland types), 2 Ruff and 81 Lapwing on the Gruinart flats where there was a Peregrine on its' kill. Jim also had 2 ringtails having a tussle with each other. Further on, 3 Blackwits, 2 Shelduck were seen while 2 Whinchats were at Craigens. A female Sparrowhawk was at Carnain with a male Kestrel seen at Portnahaven. Mary, this morning, had a House Martin at Bruichladdich and a male Hen Harrier along at Uiskentuie on her way in to work. Yesterday, the vols had carried out the WeBS count at Gruinart, their tally was as follows, 14 Herons, 2 Shelduck, 46 Mallard, 14 Red B Merganser, 6 Gadwall, 92 Oystercatcher, 13 Ringed Plover,4 Golden Plover, 3 Grey Plover, 42 Sanderling, 95 Dunlin, 119 Barwits, 1 Blackwit, 219 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 62 Redshank, 234 BH Gull, 42 C Gull, 93 H Gull, 2 LBB Gull , 7 GBB Gull, 23 Pale bellied Brent Geese and an Osprey. Here this morning we had 2 Greenfinches and also 4 Goldfinches and a Great Tit out nosing around the feeders and also 2 House Martins amongst the Swallows.. We saw a ringtail fly across the road at Carnduncan, another at Coull and finally a third one flew past the garden with a Sparrowhawk out its rounds over the garden moments earlier...

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.

Thursday 16th October

A big bumper edition tonight, so here goes, it's great when you all send in your sightings.. Earlier this week, think it was either Monday or Tuesday, the blog was hit by 414 folk looking at it on the one day....Andrew and Jane (the Bowland birders)Had seen 27 Scaup and a Goldeneye at Blackrock. At Loch Skerrols and the surrounding woods, they had 50 Greenland Whitefronts, 4 Canada (large), 1 Pinkfooted Goose, 3 Dabchick, 4 Teal, 3 Wigeon, 15 Mute Swan, 12 Woodpigeon, 1 Sparrowhawk, 5 Long tailed Tit, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Coal Tit and a Goldcrest. On the River Sorn, a Dipper and a Grey Wagtail were seen with pr of Mistle Thrush nearby. Emily had 3 Golden Eagles down on the Oa on the guided walk on Tuesday, at Kilnaughton Bay, she counted 8 GND. This morning, Bob had a large flock of Redwing up behind Port Charlotte. They appeared to be coming out from roosting in the trees around Gearach, in his garden alone, Bob counted 48 Redwing and 20 Blackbirds! Alan and Jill from Arran who are staying with Carl, had a flock of 600 Redwing at Kildalton and a House Martin at Craigens. Carl himself had 4 Herons at An Toran as well as 7 Whoopers also there. Mary had a Chiffchaff on the Moorland trail, along the flats at Gruinart, 9 Snipe were in a "loose flock". The Brambling was still present amongst the flock of Chaffinches. Going up to Ardnave, a Kestrel, a male Hen Harrier was spotted and 2 Chough were seen soon after. On the guided walk this morning, a ringtail Hen Harrier was seen, 25 Pale bellied Brent Geese with also 15 Red legged partridges (? released birds). On the floods Teal, Wigeon, Pintail and Shoveler were present while out on the loch, a lonesome Black Guillemot was not looking too happy as it was getting surrounded by GBB Gulls and Hoodies, did not hear the final outcome! Here at home this morning, while I was looking out the window, the wee birds, well all the birds cleared off the feeders, and hey presto a male Sparrowhawk stopped by for a few moments perching on top of the small fence less than 15 feet away!!! Coming home from Port Charlotte this afternoon, a Stoat hopped out on the road, saw us coming and did a u turn and jumped back into the verge, it had a lbj (Little brown job) in its' mouth, of the furry kind rather than of the the feathered ilk! Emily was also saying that a juv Golden Eagle has been seen regularly out from the Visitor Centre at Gruinart, wonder if it is keeping an eye on the geese!!! Wally was telling me today of another visiting birder had seen a Kigfisher down close to the mouth of the River Sorn. Wally himself the other day had seen 2 Grey Plover on Loch Gruinart, and he is now up to 98 species seen, wonder if he can get to 100 before he leaves...

Wednesday 9th April

Peter from Sunderland had a couple of House Martins amongst the Sand Martin at Gruinart this morning. He also saw over 700 Golden Plover there too. On the way up to Ardnave, he saw several pairs of Wheatear. Yesterday, while leading the guided walk for the RSPB on the Oa, Emily had Chough and also a Peregrine. Peter had a count of 9 Pale bellied Brent down at Blackrock. Emily has been hearing the Snipe drumming over the reserve at Gruinart. Ed, earlier on in the week had a Great spotted Woodpecker fly across the road close to Lagavullin and later on a Golden Eagle harassing a juv White tailed Sea Eagle up behind Bridgend. This afternoon, Jack Fleming heard a Whimbrel at Gortan. More of the geese appear to have moved on, as there do not appear to be so many around!

Friday 26th April

Been a busy day yesterday, I wrote yesterday's entry early and when I came home there were several more sightings that had come through while I was out! The Rochdale birders had seen 3 Redwing at Coullabus, 3 large Canada Geese on Ardnave Loch, ringtail Hen Harrier, a Kestrel, a Cuckoo being chased by 3 Meadow Pipits, all at Storakaig. An Otter was seen in the Sound of Islay and at Bunnahabhain, the Iceland Gull was still present. A further 2 Redwing were noted at Keills and a male Redpoll was on a feeder at Keills too. At Bruichladdich, 3 Sandwich Terns were seen (the Sandwich Tern in Thursday's entry managed to outwit the Black headed Gull!) Today they had a male Hen Harrier on the reserve at Gruinart and another over towards Bunnahabhain, with 15 Black Guillemots counted on the Sound of Islay. Yesterday evening, Liz Hathaway heard a Corncrake down at Portnahaven and this morning Liz had a House Martin at Nerabus. Last night coming home, we had a Tawny Owl just after Foreland and then a Barn Owl closer to Rockside road end. This morning, we had 2 small group of Pale bellied Brents, 22 just after Gortan and a further 5 close to Blackrock. Finally David and Jane Griffiths had a male Hen Harrier down at Whinpark and also a Wheatear there too. 

Before I forget, on Monday evening on BBC1 Scotland at 9pm there is the showing of "Hebrides" with the first program featuring Islay, Jura and Colonsay, should be worth watching... On Tuesday, it's that time again for the Bird nerds meeting, we will be in the "old hide" at Gruinart from 7pm, so if any of you are over, feel free to come along and put a face to a name as well as looking for some birds from the hide too, perhaps hear a Corncrake...

Monday 15th April

Just after I wrote last night's entry, Karen from over in the cottages had a Peregrine annoying 4 Buzzards good style, it initially split the Buzzards into 2 groups of 2, one of which flew off... A moment or so later, Karen then had a Swallow fly past. This morning, Becky had a GND on Loch Indaal, directly in front of her house on the edge of Bowmore. On the walk down from Port Ellen today, Karen had a Gannet close to the shore at the Singing Sands, and then later on a Swallow at the Port Ellen maltings. Bob, this morning had seen a lot of Redwings on the move with 20 beside his house and then 150 between Knockdon and Loch Skerrols. On Loch Skerrols itself, a male Pochard was seen as were 7 Tufted Duck. Along at "smelly corner" there were 60 Shelduck, 12 Wigeon, pr of Shoveler, and a female Pintail. Back home, Bob had a Golden Eagle over his house, early afternoon, then a male Hen Harrier.There was a flock of 65 Redwing present there this afternoon which were spoofed by a female Kestrel, closely followed by a male Kestrel. Down on the Oa, Dave has had a good day, with 4 Willow Warbler, 12 Swallow, 3 House Martin, 3 Sand Martin, 11 Goldcrest, a Siskin and a singing Redwing, Back on Friday Dave had a Chiffchaff. David and Jill Mason had seen a Pink footed Goose amongst the Greenland Whitefronted Geese over at Ballinaby today and also had a Wheatear singing further on. This evening there was an Arctic Tern down at Bruichladdich. James was saying this evening that most of the Barnies have flown on, although he reckons that there were still around 5,000 present at Gruinart today. This evening the rain has started, so tomorrow's walk for Walkislay may have to be plan "B" with a low level walk taking place...

Monday 10th October

Another big dollop of rain again last night, what's new? What's new, well today we had the geese arriving in big numbers, Mary was in touch with some scores on the doors for today. The tallies at Gruinart were 22,265 Barnies, 29 Greenland Whitefronts, 28 Pale bellied Brents, 335 Greylags, 2 Canada hutchinsii sp and 1 Pink footed Goose. Mary also said that there were a good number of Lapwings and Black tailed Godwits on both the floods and the flats on the reserve, Crystal had 21 Greenland Whitefronts on Loch Kinnabus on the Oa reserve. A visitor e mailed through last night with having seen a White tailed Sea Eagle in the Port Askaig area, a Swallow over the Rhinns and 8 Arctic Terns on Loch Indaal at Port Charlotte. Yesterday Bob had a House Martin at Port Charlotte and a Greenshank out from the hide at Gruinart. Today he has seen several groups of Whoopers moving through, 28 flying South over Loch Indaal, 9 present at Garmain and also a small family group of 6 at Sunderland. Also on Loch Indaal, Bob and his friend had 47 Scaup, and on Loch Skerrols they had a count of 35 Mute Swans, 17 Whoopers, 3 Tufted Duck, 4 Gadwall, 9 Wigeon and 1 Little Grebe. Up at Knockdon they had seen a juvenile Golden Eagle, a Coal Tit and 2 Goldcrest.

Thursday 21st July

The weather continues on, great, dry and sunny, what else do we need.... Bob had seen a Short eared Owl up the back of Port Charlotte yesterday, and also was saying that he seen some more Linnets and Redpolls eating on the seed heads. He also reckons of late that there have been an increase in Whinchats. A visitor had seen the Rosy coloured Starling up at Ardnave again yesterday, and another who had been on the ferry to Colonsay told me that they had seen a few Manx Shearwaters. We had a House Martin here at home late yesterday evening, and this morning a pair were trying to attempt to start a late build of a nest on the house to no avail.