Friday 18th October

Last night, around 5.30 pm , Distillery Dave had gone down to Loch Gorm where he saw the 2 Snow Geese, great to see especially as they had just taken off and were showing their black wing tips off. He then followed a Merlin along the road for some time before it veered off  and away.

Dave Pierce arrived yesterday and is leading a group from Naturetrek. When waiting on the ferry at Kennacraig, they had a White tailed Eagle as it flew overhead. This morning, they had seen a pair of White tailed Eagles sitting on a hillock, being mobbed by a Buzzard. Down on Loch Indaal, out from Bowmore they had a GND, with another seen at Blackrock where a L T Duck was present as well. Up at the reserve at Loch Gruinart, an adult Golden Eagle was seen putting the Barnies up off the flats. It then flew on and landed on a fence, up on the raised beach. Up at Leckgruinart they had 2 Chough and a small flock of 20 Twite. They had around 80 Whoopers at Sunderland. Finally they had a ringtail Hen Harrier and then the 2 Lesser Snow Geese were present on Loch na Cachie, down between Rockside road end and Loch Gorm.

Bob, late this morning, had seen a White tailed Eagle as it flew over his house up behind Port Charlote and it flew on towards Kilchiaran.

Wednesday 16th October

Just as well that I took a "daft turn" and cut the grass yesterday as overnight we had around an inch of rain, apart from the ground being rather wet this morning, I had to empty the rain gauge and we are only halfway through October... the gauge was only reading 5 inches, enough said..

Some sightings in through from Nick and Kath from last Saturday on their way home, (yes, I forgot about them, the other night).  Down at Whin Park they had the 2 Lesser Snow Geese, a Little Egret, a Peregrine, and also 5 Pale bellied Brent Geese. When leaving Gruinart, earlier on, they had seen a close sighting of a Golden Eagle.

On Monday , David Wood had seen mixed flock of Wagtails at Risabus on the Oa. There were 13 in total with a single Grey Wagtail, 10 Pied Wagtails and also 3 White Wagtails seen. Other birds seen on Monday by himself included a Merlin, 10 Goldcrest, along with a count of 200 Redwing all on the Oa reserve...

Gary, this morning had seen a Merlin chase after a wader out from Bowmore. Out on Loch Indaal itself, he had seen RTDs and GNDs, and then along at the head of the loch, he counted 52 Barwits and also 32 Redshank. Round at Blackrock, Gary had 22 Scaup and also 31 Common Scoter. Resting up on the edge of Loch Gorm he had located the 2 Lesser Snow Geese amongst the flock of Greylags present.

Ann and Noel had seen all the above mentioned birds as mentioned, but added seeing Turnstone, Goldeneye and also Long tailed Duck, all seen out on Loch Indaal. Down on the Oa, they had seen 2 Golden Eagles, a flock of over 200 Twite, a Kestrel, a Merlin and also 2 Chough.

Peter, today had seen a drake Green winged Teal out from the South Hide at Gruinart amongst the many Teal and Pintail present there.

Along on the barley stubbles at Sunderland I had counted 70 Whoopers and then managed to show 2 visitors the 2 Snow Geese resting up amongst the Greylags there.

Tuesday 15th October

Today, it has been dry although a bit on the cool side,the blood must have rushed to my head, yes I took a daft turn (again?) and cut the grass!!!

Ann Heads and Noel had yesterday seen 2 White tailed Eagles over at Loch Gruinart. Down off Frenchman's Rocks they had a Whimbrel . Today, they saw a late Wheatear up at Ardnave, over at Sanaigmore, 5 GND were spotted out in the bay. Along at Sanaigmore 50 Whoopers were present with the 2 Lesser Snow Geese seen there as well. Up here at home, we watched the Chough going into the roost. I really should take more atention and try to count them in, mind you they are not that easy to count, as they duck and dive, perhaps I will need to catch them in the frame on the camera!!!

Sunday 13th October

Yesterday, early afternoon, and Mandy had seen over 40 Whoopers fly over Kindrochid. Earlier on,  in the fields at Ballinaby, she had seen a flock of Greylags along with some Barnies and Whitefronts present amongst the Greylags. Gary had seen large numbers of Redwing and Skylarks coming in from the North, and also 10 Crossbills flew past. Down at Finlaggan, he had a White tailed Eagle sitting on one of the trees there. He also saw several Crossbills flying along the tops of the trees there as well.

Richard, this morning at around 8am, had seen the 2 White rumped Sandpipers in the same location up at Sanaigmore.

The above is an image of the 2 birds taken yesterday by myself...

Down on the shore line at Sanaigmore, Richard had a Snow Bunting and also a Chough. Down at Blackrock he had counted 18 Scaup. There was also a small pasage of of around 20 Mistle Thrush and Redwing seen at Bunahabhain. At Cattadale, Richard had a male Hen Harrier while off  Bowmore, he had seen a GND and also a RTD out on Loch Indaal.

James, this morning, counted 15,545 Barnies, 36 Whitefronts, 9 Whoopers, 7 Pintail, 14 Pinkies and also 2 Pb Brent Geese. Down on the merse at Bridgend, he saw a White tailed Eagle and also the 2 Snow Geese were still present.

Late afternoon, we too saw the  2 Snow Geese at Bridgend, and then while coming home, there were 56 Whoopers along with large mixed flock of geese seen on one of the barley stubbles at Sunderland.

Saturday 12th October

As promised a round up firstly of birds seen out from Whin Park yesterday....Gary's initial list included the followig birds there from around 1pm... 2 White tailed Eagles,  2 Lesser Snow Geese, a single Greenshank, and also 20 + Curlew, 40 + Dunlin as well 50+ Red Knot, 4 Red b Merganser, 3 Buzzards, 30 Pinkies, 2 small Canada geese, 150+ Greylags, a single Pale bellied     Brent goose and a Peregrine. Late afternoon after Gary, Richard and ourselves had gone, Peter came along and after quite a patient piece of scoping found the Snow Geese. His count of the Barnies came in at 850 as they were dropping in all the time.. the small Canada was seen briefly, 15 Pinkies, a single P b Brent, 85 Greylags and also 75 Curlew. Peter did not count the duck present, mainly Teal and Wigeon, but said there were plenty around.

An image through from Gary of one of the Lesser Snow geese...

Distillery Dave had a Merlin on Thursday while out walking his dog down the road at Rockside. On Friday, he saw a Peregrine hunting over the fields there.

Nick and Kath had seen 4 Greenshank and a Barwit seen from their car as they drove up the east side of Loch Gruinart. They also counted 50+ Whoopers on the reserve.

Iain & Fiona yesterday had seen 4 GND, and also a RTD over at Claggain Bay and then they had a White  tailed Eagle seen over close to Ballygrant. Many thanks for your birds folks... and obviously to other visitors who sent in their sightings through the week, as ever much apprecated to you all...

Today started off as normal, a quiet sort of a day, then the phone rang, with Richard saying that he was convinced that he had 2 White rumped Sandpipers,  on a pool up at Sanaigmore, a quick phone to alert Peter and we all met up and yes it was as Richard thought. James was seen walking down on the Bay so adding his thoughts.. Earlier on Richad had seen a Little Egret at the mouth of the River Sorn, and also out from Black Rock he had seen Common Scoter, Scaup  and Eider. James had seen a Pale bellied Brent and also a Merlin, down close to the Bay at Sanaigmore as well. Distillery Dave had over 300 Barnies seen at Rockside this morning. Visitors had seen the Snow Geese out from Whin Park when they arrived off the ferry this afternoon, and Gary saw them again around 4.30 pm on his way to work.

Friday 11th October

Yesterday Iain & Fiona Grant had managed to see some birds and sent them through...

Near to Ardbeg, they had seen 4 Swallows and also 2 Grey Wagtails. Just outside of Bowmore, 11 Redwing were seen. Up the West side of Loch Gruinart, a female Merlin was seen feeding on an "unfortunate" Mipit. They had seen the start of the Barnies arriving  back on Islay with over 1,000 counted and more ariving before leaving Gruinart. Other birds seen at Gruinart included a Merlin, a male and also a ringtail Hen Harrier, and also 8 Greenshank. At Ballinaby, they saw 5 Whoopers, 150 Greylags, 3 Pinkies, and also 50 Barnies and then on Machir Bay, 6 Sanderling, 36 Ringed Plover and a single Dunlin were present.

This morning, James had arried out a quick count of any new arrivals on the reserve, he had a count of 5810 Barnies, 6 Greenland Whitefronts, a single Pale bellied Brent Goose and also 3 Redwing... Not to be outdone, we have had a great 2 hour stint at the head of Loch Indaal in rather trying weather this afternoon... Gary was in touch to say that he had 2 Snow Geese present down on the edge of the merse, so after a quick call round to folk, off we went hoping that we might get a sight of them..So, we met Gary and also Richard with Mark and Shona Islay coming along. After a bit of patience, Gary and Richard located the Geese for us, they were tucked up in a hollow and resting up but were seen. Gary sent an image over to Jim Dickson who said in his opinion that they were Lesser Snow Geese. More on these birds and the other birds which were seen when we were there tomorrow night. Peter had came along after we had left and managed to see them as well.