Sunday 23rd August

 It should be the time of the month when I would  normally tell you where the bird nerds will be meeting on this coming Tuesday, but yet again there will not be meeting because of the Coronavirus. As the old saying goes, "better safe than sorry"...

Our son Andrew had a bit of a happening in his garden yesterday...

There was a massive commotion in the garden today with a load of crows going crazy. I thought they were trying to get starlings or house martins from the house, but they were all down by the silver birch by Dave’s. Went down to see what was going on & found this Sparrowhawk wrestling a Magpie. It eventually killed it. Thought to keep kids away from sight, but Abbie said “but it’s only doing what needs to for food, and I love predators”. She was fascinated so learnt her natural history lesson for day....

Andrew Kelly sent me through some birds for the blog..  An interesting day! Highlights for me.  Loch side at W end of Tower Plantation: c90 dunlin mixed in with as many ringed plover and c30 curlew. Kestrel on the High Road, Juvenile Sparrowhawk posing nicely if briefly on fence post during circular walk round the Oa reserve Extended Peregrine flypast along cliffs by the monument. Mixed flock of Twite, Linnet and Goldfinch. Some very noisy seals in the bays! 2 Raven.  Loch side on Bowmore - Bridgend Road feeding: 50+ Curlew, 6 Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Knot, 12 Redshank etc.   From shore near Blackrock late afternoon: Red-throated diver flying down loch, 3 Sandwich Terns feeding, 11 Common Scoter, 14 Eider.

Meanwhile George E. Jackson sent through the following earlier on this morning to me....

 "3 - 4 Sand martins still hanging around Machir Bay dunes; an imm. Golden Eagle flew along the burn below Rockside this morning and a Wheatear on the Horizons wall this evening. I also get the feeling that there are more Blackbirds about than 2 weeks ago, as I am driving around - possibly young ones dispersing, or have a few arrived already? (See they have had Redwings on N Ron. and Fair Isle)."

.

Thursday 22nd August

Yesterday, James had seen a Ruff and also 34 Black tailed Godwits on the reserve at Gruinart. This morning, before the weather broke down (big style...), James had the following birds seen again at Gruinart.... 43 Bar tailed Godwits, 20 Knot, 2 Osprey, a Merlin and a Peregrine.

While I remember, the monthly meeting/ catch up of the Islay bird nerds will be held on Tuesday 27th, at 6 pm. We shall be meeting at the car park at Killeyan on the Oa. If the meeting is in doubt, please contact David Wood on 01496 300118 by 5 pm for an update if there is a change in venue. Pleae note the earlier start....

Tuesday 16th April

Mandy e mailed through today, saying that she had seen a flock of around 80 Barnacle Geese  at Ballinaby this morning. Some birds seen by Gary today, down at Gartmain, he had 17 Barwits, 20 Knot, 11 Dunlin and 4 Redshank. He also told me that the Willow Warblers have returned last night, to the trees adjacent to his house, with them all singing/ calling away, could be worse, a Corncrake makes a fair old racket when it wants too...

Hopefully, the ferries are back to the normal timetable after the disruption at the weekend because of the weather!!!

Monday 11th March

Yesterday, Chris Mills along with the group of birders from Norfolk Birding had seen a Fulmar out along the front of the crag, so watch this space again for the weather to deteriorate..

Today, they had seen a male Merlin, just after the road leading to Rockside, a male Hen Harrier flew across the road, at the road leading to Finlaggan. Over at Bunnahabhain, the group had 2 White tailed Eagles fly over to Jura with a Golden Eagle displaying there as well ... Down from the pier at Bowmore, they had counted 45 Common Scoter, 9 Slav. Grebe, a Tystie and over 300 Common Gulls. Finally, at the mouth of Loch Indaal, they had 120 Barwits and at least 40 Knot.

Up here at home, we had 3 Pied Wagtails out on the grass.

The news from Fair Isle is not too good, as by the sound of the snippets of information coming through so far, is that the Observatory will be out of commission for this season ... Our thoughts are with the team there.

Sunday 10th March

Chris Mills is over this week leading a group from Norfolk Birding. Last night they had a Barn Owl and on their way round Loch Gorm this morning, they had seen 2 Golden Eagles out over Ballinaby. At Gruinart, they saw the Little Egret.

James had counted 52 Knot out on Loch Gruinart itself, a Merlin on the flats, the Little Egret was noted out below the visitor centre and finally he had a Sparrowhawk also on the reserve at Gruinart. James said that the count for the Knot was a high count for here as we do not normally have that many...

Finally, some sad breaking news ... There was a fire this morning at the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, not sure of the exact details, but not sounding too good.. Fire crews from Shetland were flown in to help. Will try to keep you posted tomorrow should I get some more information.

Thursday 29th June

Gary had been out and about doing some birding by himself today. Down at Gartmain where the burn enters Loch Indaal, Gary noticed more Gulls around... They included 4 Gbb Gull, 6 Lbb Gull, 12 Herring Gull, 33 Common Gull, a B H gull, 16 Oystercatcher, a Redshank and 2 Sedge Warblers. Round Loch Indaal, at Carnain, Gary had the following birds, 20 Ringed Plover, 12 Pied Wagtail, 10 Rock Pipits, 20 Meadow Pipits, 40 Blackwits, 4 Knot, 11 Dunlin, 45 Oystercatcher, a Curlew, 7 Linnet, with and an Osprey flying/ gliding west towards Uiskentuie. Back  on Loch Finlaggan, Gary had 19 Tufted Duck, the drake Ring necked Duck, a Cormorant and a Red throated Diver. Here at home, the Goldfinches are not so common for sure, the Starlings are up in numbers as are the Siskins with 12 counted out on the feeders this morning at one time. In fact there has ben a constant stream of Siskins coming and going for most of the day. The big flock of Jackdaws were not seen here today, but we did notice them on a recently sown reseed field over at Rockside...

Monday 21st November

Dave saw 2 treecreepers and 2 goldcrests today on the Woodland Trail at Gruinart. He also saw a pink-footed goose in a field. Yesterday Gary saw a juvenile white tailed eagle at Bridgend Woods, 5 long tailed ducks at Bowmore Pier. At Gartmain he had 400 barnacle geese, 7 brent geese, 45 mallard, 40 scaup, 21 long tailed ducks, 7 slavonian grebe, 8 goldeneye, and later on a golden eagle over Loch Ballygrant. Bob reported his sightings from his WeBS between Bowmore and Gartbreack. He saw 90 oystercatcher, 142 curlew, 65 barwit, 5 knot, 102 dunlin, 10 long tailed duck, 2 goldeneye, 25 common scoter, 250 wigeon, 480 teal, 2 shelduck, 2 great northern diver, 8 redshank, 1 purple sandpiper, 4 grey plover, 35 lapwing and 3 snipe. Jim Dickson reported a little egret at Machair Bay yesterday. Yesterday Mandy saw turnstone, dunlin, 2 sanderling, 25 oystercatcher, 36 ringed plover, 13 + 25 whooper swans. At Blackrock she had 2 long-tailed ducks, 2 slavonian grebes, loads of great-northern divers, few red throated divers and loads of scoters and eiders.

Monday 22nd August

Survey of Loch Gruinart was done today by RSPB volunteers and the findings are: 5 heron, 2 shelduck, 99 oystercatcher, 3 ringed plover, 12 golden plover, 2 knot, 26 dunlin, 19 curlew and about 200 mallards on the floods. A female sparrowhawk was seen last night at Lyrabus carrying blackbird. Mary saw loads of Kittiwakes today at Portnahaven.

Friday10th June

Gary yesterday at Loch Tallant, apart from hearing the Little Grebe calling, he had also heard Sedge Warblers calling there as well with some Sand Martins skimming over the water itself. Along at Blackrock, Gary had seen Cormorant, Arctic Terns, Common Terns, Lbb Gull, Common Gull and also Black headed Gulls, and on the shingle towards Blackrock itself Gary counted 47 Blackwits and also 20 Knot. Yesterday afternoon while Gary was up here visiting we saw 2 different Hooded Crows flying past carrying Pheasant chicks away, now I know where they are going... Today on the feeders there was a gathering of 29 Starlings, mostly youngsters getting the feel for the feeders!!!!  Later on, I saw a family of House Sparrows out dust bathing, the 2 adults showing their 5 fledglings what to do...

Tuesday 31st May

Another late entry again this evening, with tonight's excuse being that I have been out at our monthly meeting of the Islay bird nerds. We took a walk along Loch Indaal from below the airport down towards Kintra, stopping just short of the Machrie River. It was a great evening out, warm with a slight wind which was good as it kept the midges away! Gary counted 57 Eider, other birds seen were Turnstone, many Sand Martins, Dave counted 27 possible nest holes in the sand banks at one point, 50 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin, several pairs of Lapwings, 16 Arctic Terns on nest sites, 5 Little Terns on nests, Ringed Plovers, Redshank, Oystercatcher,   a Knot in winter plumage, 4 Pied Wagtail, Curlew with young, single Whimbrel, single Wheatear and a difficult to spot female Wigeon

Saturday 2nd March

Phil and Kath headed home today, but before leaving had 2 Hen Harriers up behind Port Charlotte, they also saw some frog spawn close to The Gearach while on the former Distillery pond at Port Charlotte itself, they had 2 Moorhen. Thanks folks for your sightings. Peter today had been up towards Bunnahabhain and had seen the White tailed Sea Eagle, the Iceland Gull was present as was a Goldcrest. He also saw a Peregrine being mobbed by 3 Ravens. Down on Loch Skerrols, 6 Goldeneye were present. David Jardine who is over birding had a good day starting off with a Grey Wagtail at Bridgend. Other highlights included a Knot amongst some Curlew down at Machir Bay, 2 Sanderling were also there. A Greenshank was seen at Gruinart, with Shoveler and Gadwall seen along with the ducks there. Up towards Garra Eallabus, 2 Brambling were spotted in the "game crop" while off Arnave, David had 3 Gannets. Purple Sandpiper were  at Bruichladdich, while over off Bowmore there was a possible Black necked Grebe amongst some Slavonian Grebe

Mon 20th August

A good day today, sun with the odd shower. The clear air allowed great view of the Gruinart mud which is covered in waders. There has been an influx of waders, especially ringed plover, with a least 200 and maybe as many as 500 on the Loch. Other birds on the Loch included, a group of 119 redshank, 99 knot and 6 black tailed godwits. The waders are really moving through now. A count of the Gruinart fresh water floods produced: 12 herons, 96 teal, 3 moorhens, 1 little grebe, 1 greenshank, 31 mallard, 3 wigeon, 1 golden plover, 2 whooper swans, 29 curlew and 11 mute swans. The day has finished up with birthday cake all round, celebrating Eleanors 13th birthday.

Friday 6th April

Malcolm and Bob had been out goose counting yesterday on the "Gruinart" run, and had seen the leucistic Bar tailed Godwit along with another 10 normal Bar tailed Godwit up at Traigh Nostaig. Up on Nave Island. there was a flock around 200 Knot, and a solitary Canada Goose which was away from a flock of Barnacle Geese which were there too. The biggest surprise on Nave Island was a Roe Deer, it must have swum over, but how long has it been there? Up at Ardnave Point, a Peregrine was seen, while on Ardnave Loch the Mute Swan was on its' nest. Earlier on at Lyrabus, a Glaucous Gull was there, on RSPB reserve a pair of Hen Harrier were displaying and another male Hen Harrier was displaying over at Killallan. The previous day Bob had been on the Rhinns run and amongst the Greylags at Lossit, there were 2 Pink footed Geese present.

Friday 30th September

Mary saw 35 golden plovers near Saligo as well as peregrine around Ballinaby fields chasing a flock of starlings. She also had a red-throated diver at Bruichladdich pier and hen harrier at The Oa. Mark and Michal, while doing guided walk, had male and female hen harrier and couple of peregrines hunting in front of the hide at Loch Gruinart Reserve. There was also 12 ruff, several snipe and redshank put up by the activity of the raptors. On the saltmarsh there was 77 barnacle geese, 247 brent geese, 96 greylags resting and 64 lapwings scattered around and feeding. On the mud there was flock of 350 dunlin, 20 oystercatchers, 1 grey plover, 30 curlews as well as 6 knots. Crystal saw couple of arctic terns at Portnahaven. Bob saw 8 twite, sparrowhawk and female hen harrier outside his garden as well as flock of about 30 redpolls. George had 94 wigeons and 95 bar-tailed godwits at Carnain.

Fri 19th Aug 2011

A good morning with the weather closing in over Islay during the afternoon. I had a look over Loch Gruinart, lots of waders are on the move. A couple of the more interesting records include 63 knot and 1 ruff, also a hen harrier hunting, a young male.

I had a trail camera out earlier in he week and got this picture of a roe deer jumping into view!

Monday 15th August

Sorry folks, forgot to put an entry on last night, an age thing honest... Rob Lucking who was over on holiday had seen a Knot with colour rings on, down on the Strand beside the airport on Friday, and received through the data on it today. It was originally rung on the island of Simonszand which is off the coast of Holland on the 25th August 2006, and this is the first time time it has been seen since. Nick Wilkinson who is over working here on Islay had 12 Black tailed Godwits, 1 Whimbrel, 28 Knot, 108 Oystercatcher and 36 Curlew this morning on Loch Gruinart.

Sun 22nd Aug

This afternoon, before the rain came on, James had been up briefly at Ardnave. He had seen 2 Knot down on the shore, 19 Chough in the sky, and 9 Wheatear out and about!

Back here at home, this morning a Peregrine flew over the wood while yesterday a Sparrowhawk "crashed" into the willows after a lbj, whether it got it I am not sure as I did not see it emerge again! This afternoon on the overhead wires, there were quite a few Linnet and Twite to be seen.

Thurs 27th Aug

With Rory now having left Islay, James drew the short straw and did the guided walk at the reserve at Gruinart this morning. The highlights included a count of 82 Knot over the loch and the Peregrine was seen again. James and Catherine led a "Barn Owl & Bat walk" to over 30 folk last night, a great time by all accounts, not sure what they saw!

The wind outside has fairly picked up since tea time. It was odd this morning in that while I was out at the poly tunnel, I noticed that the leaves on the trees have had a burning with the salt wind from the blow the other week.

Tues 4th Aug

I was speaking with Malcolm this evening who told me he had another couple of Whimbrel on Loch Indaal at the weekend. This evening, there was a single Sanderling down on the shore just at Bruichladdich. George was also telling me that one of the competitors, in the Half marathon which started from Bowmore on Saturday, had heard a calling Corncrake while running on the race!
Clive MacKay who used to work for RSPB at Loch Gruinart reserve, is back over on holiday for a few days. Clive had a count of 920 Greylags, 1200 Dunlin, 83 Black tailed Godwit and 9 Red Knot, on Gruinart this morning.

Wed 20th Aug

Michal has been out with the camera in hand again getting this all action image of a Turnstone.

He found this one in a group of 15 today, along with 40 Sanderling, 50 Ringed Plover, 2 Knot, 80 Oystercatcher and 2 Redshank.

Perhaps not as high a count for Greylags that James had, but there were over 200 on the North side of Loch Gorm on land and a similar number on the Loch itself this afternoon. The Grey Wagtail was here again at home this morning, while overhead there were 4 Buzzards.