Saturday 31st October

 Well, the weather forecast is certainly proving correct, at one point earlier on, the wind speed on Dr Matt Jackson's weather station down at his house aptly called "Horizons" reached a mere 78mph at 9am... Some birds for you to read about, if the power does not go off again!!!

James sent through some birds last night,

Counted the white fronts 510. Also Golden plover 2005 altogether

Bullfinch , Greenshank as well as 3 White tailed eagle Juv. All on reserve at Gruinart

Jesse Wilkinson had spotted a imm  Little Gull  over the reserve as well

Dan Brown had seen the following birds yesterday

2 Yellow browed warblers, Todd's Canada goose, Gadwall, all seen on the reserve at Gruinart

And 2 Brambling in with the flock of Chaffinches over at Sunderland Farm

Hopefully I have got this image of the Black headed Bunting seen by Dan, be it very briefly on Wednesday morning... oops, no I cannot share it with you... another day possibly then!!!

Mike Bell had been out braving the elements as well yesterday...

Ardnave road: Merlin 1

Traigh Nostaig: good selection of birds including 42 Ringed Plover, 4 Grey Plover, 11 Sanderling, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 14 Turnstone.

Ardnave point: 1 Merlin, 29 Chough scattered and mobile so difficult to assess numbers.

Nave island: 2 ad WTE left SE towards Gruinart.

Loch Gruinart, wetland & fields: 1450 Teal today first thing, 1 imm WTE first thing, 1 Hen Harrier am & pm, 1 ad Peregrine, Ringed Plover 189, Golden Plover 1650, Lapwing 560, Sanderling 215, Dunlin 840, Barwit 238,  all good totals.

Craigens road junction: at least 4 Yellowhammer.

Bun an Uillt: 3 Goldeneye

Killinallan: 1 male Hen Harrier.

Friday 9th October

 Visitor Jacqui Relph sent me through last night,

"We had the Hen Harrier again at the Oa today and also, either a Peregrine or a Merlin, it was quite close but moving to fast to get a really good look, more brown than grey. Also a couple of Buzzards on the way off the reserve.  At Port An Eas, 2 Chough and a Whinchat, on the road just near the lighthouse at Singing Sands."

Another pair of visitors, Jonathan and Alison Alder, e mailed this set of birds seen yesterday

"We're staying on Islay for 10 days based at Port Ellen, having been many times before based at Portnahaven. Male Hen Harrier on minor road off B8016 about 2 miles before Ballygrant, plus Golden Eagle over ridge of Beinn Dubh. Ringtail Hen Harrier near Bridgend adjacent to A846, where we were parked looking over Loch Indaal waiting in vain for WT Eagle."

Peter Gill had a quieter sort of a day yesterday, but made up for it today.... Up at Gruinart, they counted 47 Whoopers, and out from the South hide at Gruinart, he had 40 GWF amongst the many Barnies and also Greylags seen there. Also present was a cracking male Hen Harrier there too. He then  had a Golden Eagle along the South side of Loch Gorm. There was a Peregrine and a Sparrowhawk noted there down by the side of the loch itself. Further along the road, he had 2WT Eagles and another Peregrine, along past Sunderland. He also had several Buzzards on his travels. 

Bob today had seen a Little Gull when he was coming back home out of Bowmore and then at Gartmain he had counted 70 P b Brent geese along with the ever increasing flock of barnies present there as well.

Gary emailed his birds seen today, as follows

"No sign of the Hoopoe this morning, spent an hour down at Whin Park.

Lots of Whooper Swans flying in from the north, found one flock of 40 at Bridgend.

Lots of Redwing flying through as well.

200+ Golden Plover on the sand at Bridgend. Two hybrid Canada / Barnacle Geese amongst the Barnies."

Around about 6pm , we saw 2 groups of Whooper Swans down on the stubble fields at Rockside, possibly around 70 birds in all.

Sunday 21st July

Around midday out here today, the weather has broken down with some dirty squally showers of rain in the mix. So, to put you out of your misery, not that great a time to be outside. I would have got weather beaten rather than a sun tan if I had ventured out..

Bob was up this afternoon, and gave me some birds for the blog...

On Friday, over at Saligo, he had a Swift. Yesterday, at Laggan Point, Bob had seen a Dabchick, and a female Peregrine. He also had a Cormorant there as well as over 100 Shags flying around, many with young. He counted 40 Fulmars on nests too. Also present were 6 Red breasted Merganser and a female Eider with 2 youngsters. Bob also had seen a possible Little Gull there as well. 

Wednesday 19th December

Another day in, but no reports of birds being seen on Islay, not because of the lack of birds, but mainly due to the simple fact that quite a few of the usual contributors are out on the mainland for one reason or another..

Stop press... Bob was on the phone just now to say that he had seen 1st winter Little Gull down at Gortan, when he was out on the goose count on the Rhinns today. Good one, Bob....you just saved my bacon, pal. Much appreciated....

Thursday 27th September

Late yesterday afternoon, Mandy had seen a Kestrel down close to McNicol's croft.

This morning, Gary had seen 6 Barnacle Geese down at the top of Loch Indaal while he was having a look see while parked at the entrance to Whin Park. Louise had a Starling on her feeders this morning, a first for the Gatehouse list.. At the manse at Craighouse, Louise had seen a Sparrowhawk. Later on, she saw a Merlin and then a Hen Harrier up behind Ballinaby. Bob, this afternoon, saw a Little Gull among some Black headed Gulls at Carnain. The BTO sent more details about the Greylag goose that Bob had been handed in to him. It was initially caught and rung back on 12th of December in 2012 over at Ballinaby.

Here at home, a quick bird watch after tea produced 2 Buzzards, a Peregrine, a Sparrowhawk, 2 Raven and around 30 Chough.

Yet another image of our very local Sparrowhawk, taken in the evening sun, through the kitchen window, earlier this evening...

Sunday 12th November

The weather today, a typical Autumn day for sure with a coolish wind blowing for most of the day and then mid afternoon a dirty hail shower appeared out of nowhere, just glad we have a big stove to light to augment the central heating...

The Bowland birders are back over for another visit. Yesterday, as the ferry approached Port Askaig, they saw a Little Gull being pursued by a Kittiwake, while over on Jura they saw a White tailed Eagle tucking into a carcase. This morning, Bob had seen 2 pairs of Bullfinches in his garden. With this wee cold snap of weather, the birds have been busy on our feeders...

Wednesday 1st November

That is another month in, a rather wet one, with the tally coming in at 5.8inches, which gives the tally for 2017 so far a lot wetter than the same time last year...
Ed sent info through on the Whoopers that he had seen at Sunderland Farm on the 21st - 22nd October. The pair ZKZ and YPV were caught at WWT Caerlaverock  in March 2014 and Feb 2016 respectively and are "regular winterers" there. Another Whooper XBC was seen with an unrung mate and cygnet, XBC itself was caught and rung at Glaumbaejareyja, Skagafjordur, Iceland. Tim Halliday, "Al Hart's old mentor" had seen an adult winter Little Gull as he came over to Islay on the ferry today. John Wilson had counted 62 Scaup at Blackrock, 84 Whoopers and 15 Mutes on Loch Skerrols, He also saw a Brambling and also a ringtail Hen Harrier round at Rockside. Finally, John counted 36 Chough flying in to the roost on the crag. Mandy had seen 2 Whitefronts fitted with coolars at Corsapol and along the flats at Gruinart, she saw another 5 with collars and another with a radio collar, so will let you know any history on them later on. Mike Bell today had 2 Dabchick, 2 Tufties, a Woodcock, 21 Blackbirds, 2 Treecreeper, a Brambling and 12 Siskin at Loch Ballygrant and the and woods. Close to Port Askaig, 2 Golden Eagles, and another Goldie up behind Ballinaby while at Sunderland Farm 34 Whoopers were present. Irene and Tony Miller now have 6 Bramblings in their garden amongst the many Chaffinches, Goldfinches and also some Siskins present, notably back after a long absence...Their House Sparrows, Dunnocks, and Robins are always around, with a male Hen Harrier scouring the glen every day. Irene also commented on the Brambling being less shy than were when they first returned.

Monday 23rd October

Another bumper edition coming up..

Peter  Roworth had a ringtail Hen Harrier, 2 Ruff and a Blackwit over the flats at Gruinart. On Loch Indaal, he had a RTD, 2 GND, 2 Slavonian Grebe, 5 Eider and 43 Scaup. Up on the barley stubbles  opposite Neriby, 11 Whitefronts, at least 2,500 Barnies, 17 Greylags and 76 Whoopers were present. Past Cluanach, on the Glen road on the hedges there 12 Fieldfares and over 120 Redwing. On the barley stubbles around Newton, 100 Chaffinches, at least 3 Brambling, with Robins, House Sparrows, Redwing, Mistle Thrushes and 11 Collared Doves were seen. Finally at Craigens, 67 Whitefronts were counted. Yesterday also, Richard Howells had 10 Brent Geese below the Gaelic college, out of Bowmore. Loch Gruinart held around 400 Golden Plover, 2 Grey Plover, 11 Dunlin, 10 Knot, 2 Blackwit, a Barwit, 50 Brent Geese, a Grey Wagtail, some Redwing and some Fieldfare. At Bruichladdich, 6 Scoter and a GND were present while along at Blackrock, a raft of 38 Scaup were seen. Up past Bowmore, towards Cruach, a Sparrowhawk flew across the road below the radio mast. Yesterday evening as they drove back in the darkness from Port Ellen, he had 2 different sightings of a Barn Owl, along the High road. Al Hart is back over for a few days seeing a juv. Kittiwake in the water at Portnahaven and then later on, a small group of 5 Fieldfare at Lossit. Dave Pierce along with the Naturetrek group had 2 Purple Sandpipers at Bruichladdich and it was Neil McMahon who saw the Ring Ouzel there. Carl Reavey saw a "lovely" drake Long tailed Duck at Sanaigmore. Visiting birdrs from Cumbria, Ian and Linda Brockbank had a ringtail Hen Harrier over beside the Airport and this morning a juv. Swallow while on the Oa. Gary yesterday had a Golden Eagle and also  2 White tailed Eagles in the Coal Ila area. Today, Gary had 2 Comic Tern at Bruichladdich and he also saw a Canada Goose  amongst the Barnies in the field below Bob's house. This afternoon, David Wood had a flock of over 2,300 Redwing and around 200 Fieldfare on silage aftermaths at Kinnabus. He also had 4 Brambling, 2 Blue Tit, 12 Snipe and 2 Hen Harriers. Richard and Pat had 4 Swallows fly over a field of Redwings at Cruach. From Bowmore Harbour, they saw 2 GND, a RTD, and a Slavonian Grebe as well. Other waders seen on their way up to Bridgend included 2 Knot, 2 Barwits, 7 Redshank while up on Loch Skerrols, a female Pochard was present. On their way back to where they are staying, up at Cruach, a ringtail was out over the field where the Redwings had been in the morning...Returning birders from Nottinghamshire, Graham and Jo Morton had seen 10 Whitefronts, a few hundred Barnies & 20 Chough at Ardnave,. From the old hide, they saw many Teal, Wigeon, 10 Pintail, 5 Blackwits, 6 Ruff and 5 Snipe. From the viewing platform they saw over 1,000 Golden Plover, 40 Whitefronts and thousands of Barnies. Mike Anderson today saw the small flock of 140 waders at the Bowmore Harbour at first light, made up of mainly Ringed Plover, a few Turnstone and around 20 Dunlin. This evening, Mike had a GND in the harbour. A wet walk up at Ardnave , not a lot seen, but 2 Tufties along with 2 Mutes on Ardnave Loch and a count of 24 Chough out on the West coast at Ardnave. the 2 Bramblings are still showing well here at home as is our other regular visitor, a ringtail passing over the game crop. A late entry through from Gary, a visitor had seen a Ring Ouzel over at Carnain, and today the same birder had a Little Gull on the flooded pond in the field at Saligo and also saw 3 small Canada Geese amongst the Barnies out at the top of Loch Indal between the old smiddy and Bridgend...

Sunday 22nd October

Surprise, surprise a dry day  for once, the first for some time, mind you I had to empty our rain gauge as it was full, we had the best part of an inch of rain yesterday with quite a lot of flooding along the roads...Right on with the main interest, the birds seen on Islay from various folk ....Yesterday, Mike who spotted the cattle Egret back in 2009, returned for another Islay fix along with his wife Elspeth. Late afternoon a quick run out from Bowmore  and over the head of Loch Gruinart provided great views of Barnies, and Golden Plovers, also a good flock of Redwing and a small flock of 10 Twite. On the stubbles below Sunderland they saw around 90 Whoopers. Richard and Pat had a White tailed Eagle up behind Ballygrant. A ringtail was seen being mobbed by a Hoodie while driving along the "Glen Road". Down at Cluanach, some Long tailed Tits were present. They also had 2 Dabchick at Ardnahoe Loch. Naturetrek had had a group over on Islay over the past few days, led by Dave Piece and Neil McMahon. At Kennacraig, while waiting on the ferry, on Thursday, a Wheatear and also a Rock Pipit were seen. On Friday they had 17 Scaup at Blackrock, 4 Ruff at Gruinart,  a Chiffchaff at Leckgruinart. At Ardnave 2 Wheatear and 41 Chough were present. Thy also saw the Golden Eagles at Gruinart already reported in earlier entries to the blog. Between Lyrabus and Ardnave, they sawa total of 5 ringtails and  also a male Hen Harrier. Yesterday another productive day with a Tystie, GNDs, a RTD, a BTD, 15 P B Brent and a Merlin, all seen between Bowmore and Bridgend. Over 1,000 Redwing along with a few Fieldfare were present out of Port Ellen towards Ardbeg. Also seen were another Merlin, a Peregrine, a Goshawk,  2 Sparrowhawks and an Otter! Over on the Oa, 2 Golden Eagles were present, another Merlin, a Kestrel, a ringtail and a male Hen Harrier, around 40 Twite, a Brambling, some Whitefronts were noted with neck collars as well. Mary Redman saw a juv. Little Gull at Claddach out of Portnahaven this morning. This morning, Mike and Elspeth had seen 3 groups of Brents between Bowmore and Bridgend totalling 30 geese, with around 50 Scaup at Blackrock. Between Sunderland and Rockside they reckoned a tally of 170 Whoopers were present. Early afternoon, a RTD was seen North of Bowmore Harbour with a couple of Turnstone seen on the shore there as well. Later on, up towards Mulindry around 70 Whoopers were present as was a large flock of Ravens in the same field. Just as the light was starting to fade they had a mixed flock of around 70 Ringed Plover and Turnstone came in to the shore at Bowmore, possibly in to roost for  the night.. Her eat home the Brambling was still present, not one but two, seen by Distillery Dave, a new tick for him. Late afternoon, and I have noticed several groups of Whoopers leaving, honking away as they flew on ...

There was a reported sighting of a Ring Ouzel down at Bruichladdich this morning, but still to be confirmed, watch this space..

Tuesday 18th April

A lot cooler over here today, in fact we have had the big fire on today...Mary Redman yesterday sent  sightings from down at Portnahaven. She had seen some Swallows back at Claddach with 6 of them hawking over the fields looking for any insects for some food. Mary had a Snipe drumming close to Portnahaven Hall, a pair of Redshank were seen busy calling and displaying down near to Currie Sands while a pair of Meadow Pipits were trying to lure Mary away from their nest site!! Mary also commented on the lack of geese around as well.. Dave Protherough had 3 Sandwich Terns in Kilnaughton Bay while he was out with his kayak.  Peter Gill, yesterday had been down on the Oa, seeing a really close Golden Eagle, a male Hen Harrier and a single Chough. At Kintra, they had seen 2 Common Sandpiper with 2 Pale bellied Brent along at Blackrock. Top birds today from Peter were Siskin, Grey Wagtail and Dipper at The Wollen Mill. Later on up past Carrabus, a flock of 20 Twite was seen and shortly afterwards 22 Golden Plover spotted, all in summer plumage. Andy and Dot had 2 Golden Eagle up at Bunnahabhain. Mark had 8 Twite and 386 Golden Plover up at Ardnave this afternoon. Carl today had a Golden Eagle at Glenegedale, a Hen Harrier at Cragabus, a large Canada Goose at Kilnaughton as well as lots of GND present in the Bay there as well. Louise had 4 GND seen on the Sound of Islay as she headed over to Islay this morning. This afternoon, I had a White tailed Eagle over Port Charlotte flying South along the coast. Here at home, with the weather being colder, the feeders have been really busy, top birds included 2 Siskin, 3 Redpoll, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Linnets and late afternoon a count of over 70 Goldfinch, 55 at the feeders here at the house and around 20 over at the garage, the largest number here so far.. Gary has had a busy day, out with some clients. At Blackrock, this morning they saw a Little Gull, later on a couple of White tailed Eagles up towards Bunnahabhain, another White tail over at Port Charlotte, possibly the same bird that I had seen as well,  5 different Hen Harriers on their travels, including a pair sky dancing, great to see... A count of 40 Goldfinch at Octofad, and many Meadow Pipits seen around. Gary reckons they also had seen at least 10 Buzzards and a Kestrel while out and about. Finally, back at Blackrock , Gary stopped to check if the Little Gull was still present, but was content with a Glaucous Gull instead.

Sunday 12th October

Another great day with the weather again, if you do not believe me look at our new link to Islay wildscapes where you can see some of the tremendous images that Teresa has taken while she is here. Yesterday Dave had a Slavonian grebe on Loch Kinnabus, it had been there on Friday too. Also yesterday, Dave had seen 3 Brambling and 2 Goldcrest on the Oa. He had also been chasing after a reported Great grey backed shrike, but no joy! This morning, Andy (one of the vols) had carried a goose count at Gruinart, there were 14,178 Barnies, 53 Pale bellied Brent, 53 Whitefronts and 80 Greylags, 41 Whoopers were also present over at Gruinart. This morning I gave Bob and Johno a help doing the count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck with the tally being as follows, 2 Cormorant, 39 Shag, 7 Mute, 38 Whoopers, 675 Barnies, 26 Greylag, 132 Mallard, 40 Teal, 60 Wigeon, 4 Goldeneye, 15 Eider, 10 Red breasted Merganser, 1 Gannet, 86 Oystercatcher, 85 Curlew, 103 Barwits, 18 Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 27 Blackwits, 23 Dunlin, 10 Turnstone, 2 Snipe, 78 Lapwing, 210 Golden Plover, 9 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Gull, 15 GBB Gull, 50 Herring Gull, 22 BH Gull and 50 Common Gull. There were also a further 25 Whoopers flying down Loch Indaal on the Bruichladdich side of the loch, these were counted as not in our count area! At home this morning before setting out to meet in with Bob and Johno, I spotted a Blackbird eating some of the berries off one of the bushes that I recently planted, I suppose that was one of the reasons for planting them anyway...

Sun 28th Oct

Another week on Islay is past, so here are few notes....

Possibly the highlight of the week was this Little gull, a 1st winter bird heading south along the shore at Bruichladdich on Thurs 25th.

Barnacle geese appear to have had a reasonable breeding season, with around 11% of the flock being juvenlie birds, enough to give a small increase in numbers. Some intresting rings observed through the week, more than usual from both Ireland (caught by David Cabot on the Inishkea Islands) and Sutherland (caught by Carl Mitchell & the Highland Ringing Group at Durness), would indicate a good number of "passage" birds present on Islay. No new Svalbard birds this time but a couple of the regulars from there that seem to have moved permantly to the Islay population.

The number of White-fronted geese are low, are they possibly still in Iceland? No collars were read at all.

Canada Geese, at least 5, have been seen at various locations throughout the island.

An Arctic Tern was seen offshore from Bruichladdich on Monday 22cd, and also 3 Swallow heading south at Port Ellen. A Siskin was over at Coullabus on Tues 23rd, and there was 2 separate sightings of Golden Eagle, one an immature, the other an adult bird at different locations.

The Bar- headed goose was with the Barnacle Geese over at Finlaggan on Wed 24th. Also that day was a late Greenland Wheatear at Gruinart. SP

Fri 6th - Fri 13th July 07

Apologies for the lateness of the blog, partly due to my fault, and partly due to the fact that some of our contributors are away on holiday, J.R.H. in the Scilly Isles and R.A.S. on St Kilda!
35 Mergansers were observed at the mouth of Loch Gruinart. M.S.
Over on Jura, one pair of the Short eared Owls have successfully fledged 4 young, while down on the bay there was a sighting of Shelduck with a creche of 16 ducklings. Earlier on, in June, during a Sea bird survey between the North end of Islay and Colonsay, 2 Puffins were recorded. L.G. & G.M.
The Webs Count this week at Gruinart gave the following birds, 8 GBB Gulls, 2 LBB Gulls, 105 Herring Gulls, 22 BH Gulls, 151 Common Gulls, 1 Little Gull, 35 Curlew, 2 Whimbrel, 84 Bar Tailed Godwits, 268 Oystercatchers, 47 Eider Duck, 9 Knot, 16 Dunlin and 1 Peregrine Falcon. The Peregrine was later seen taking an Oystercatcher, so should the count read 267?
There has been a regular sighting of a Tawny Owl over at R.S.P.B. Loch Gruinart reserve. C.F.
Out and about on Islay there have several sightings of Raven out with their young. S.McG.

Sat 19th May 07

Big waves, big troughs and high winds overnight and until lunchtime brought the promise of some good seawatching! Unfortunately the wind wouldn't just back round far enough, so whilst there was a good showing of all the seabirds you might expect ( Gulls, Gannet, Manx Shearwater, Fulmar, Kittiwake, a few Auks and Terns), a passage of Great Northern Diver and Great Skua. The hoped for Skua passage that had been experienced in the Uists yesterday wasn't replicated, not even to species! Certainly the weather also raised expectations of Leach's Petrel but, again, nothing materialised and now the winds are lessening. Drogba saved the day finally! J.S.A.
A Little Gull was observed off Bruichladdich. J.H.
There were 57 Greylag Geese in one field beside Loch Gorm and several had goslings at foot. C.F.