Wednesday 8th April

David Wood sent me through an e mail in which he told me that Duncan McNeill had seen a Little Tern yesterday down on the Big Strand. It was there again this morning as well.

David Wood had seen a Blackcap down on the Oa reserve today.

Peter was in touch earlier on this evening saying that he has seen 8 Black Guillemots (Tystie) on the pier at Bruichladdich. He was also telling me that Val Peacock had an Adder out sunning itself.....

David Barr was speaking to me a wee while ago and he was saying that he had seen 3 Goldfinches this morning, in the garden of his house at Lochearnhead. David often also sees some Goldeneye on the loch itself when out walking his faithful dogs, Ted and Ella...

Tuesday 30th July

What a day it has been with an"explosion" of Painted Lady butterflies seen on the seed heads on the both the seed crops which we have sown here at home, great to see and watch. Will try to put some images on tomorrow's blog.

Over at the Bird nerds meeting at Bun an Uillt, we were fortunate to see 5 Little Terns fly up the loch, spotted by Distilley Dave and confirmed by Peter.

Tuesday 7th May

Yesterday, Derbyshire Bob, (Bob Mitchell) had heard a Cuckoo calling close to Ballinaby, shortly afterwards, he had heard another one calling over towards Lagstoban. Over at Gruinart, a Corncrake was heard by Bob. He also saw 2 Snipe and 2 Whooper Swans there as well. Up at Ardnave, Bob had seen some Little Terns and also present were Blackwits and Whimbrel.

Bob said that he has now seen 80 species of birds in 2 days, not bad going

Monday 22nd October

The wind this evening has certainly picked up....although somehow it has remained dry...

On Saturday, returning visiting birders,  Richard and Pat Howells had taken the ferry up to Colonsay. On approaching Scalascaig, they had 8 GND and a single RTD. Over at the airfield, they had seen some Chough, while round at Loch Fada, they heard a Water Rail calling. As the light started to fail at the dusk, 2 Golden Eagles flew overhead. Yesterday they had seen a "near albino" Greylag amongst the Greylags on the barley stubbles at Cruach. Later on up towards Killinallan, they had a Grey Plover, a Greenshank, several Barwits and also a single Shelduck. Over at Kilchoman, they had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier out over the crag. Down at Bruichladdich, they had a single RTD and also 3 GND. Also seen, yesterday evening, was a single Barn Owl  down on the high road towards the Duich Lots. Today, down at Claggain Bay they had seen a Long tailed Duck as well as 13 GND. At Cruach, they had seen 60 Golden Plover and then a Grey Wagtail down at Glenegedale.

On the Saturday, "The Bowland birders" returned for another "Islay fix". They had a relatively quiet trip over on the ferry seeing Guillemots, Tysties Kittiwakes, GND and also some RTD.  Yesterday, a trip round the Rhinns was quiet as well, with a male Hen Harrier seen around Portnahaven before flying over to Orsay where they noted 8 Roe Deer!!! There was a very sparse passage of Gannets.

Today, down at Bruichladdich they had Ringed Plover, Curlew, Pied Wagtail, Greenfinch as well as 3 Ravens. Further along the road, out on Loch Indaal from Loch Gorm House, 2 Little Terns were present with 6 Turnstone noted out on the big spit. At Blackrock, Common Gull, 24 Common Scoter and a small group of 6 Slav Grebes seen. They saw 12 Scaup out on the Loch from there and also a further 40 in the bay out from Cash Kelly's house.

Yesterday from the North hide at Gruinart, Distillery Dave had seen 12 Snipe along with several Barwits present as well. Steve Percival had told me this morning that the large number of Whoopers seen yesterday at Craigens had not been present this morning, so probably had been some of the Swans which we had seen heading out last night. Here at home this morning, I flushed a Snipe out from down beside the pond. Bob, this morning had a count of 700 Greylags on the stubbles at Octomore this morning, they appeared to be all vey quiet, and did not fly away as he was quite close to them. He wondered as to whether they had arrived in through the night and were resting up...

Another piece of news is that John Picton who is leading a tour here this week with Heatherlea had seen a Little Egret over at Loch an t Sailein which is over past Ardbeg Distillery, this morning.

Tuesday 9th October

A few "returning birders" arrived over the past few days... Yesterday, the Horwich birders came over for a few days. As they were approaching Port Askaig on the ferry yesterday, afternoon, they saw a White tailed Eagle. Later on over at Port Charlotte, they saw a Little Tern.This morning down at Machir Bay, they had 40 Ringed Plover on the pond beside the car park there. Along at the wee lochans beside Loch Gorm/ below Rockside, they saw11 Whooper Swan. Over on Loch Skerrols, they had 12 Mute Swan and then a family group of an adult and 4 young arrived in. Also seen there, were 54 Wigeon. On the merse out from Bridgend, the 2 Little Egrets were present  and at Ballygrant, on the Loch, 2 Dabchick were seen. Finally at Gruinart they saw a Peregrine and a female Hen Harrier both hunting along the banks...
James today reported through with his sightings seen at Gruinart today, 1735 Barnies, 12 Whitefronts, 6 Whooper Swans, 615 Golden Plover, 9 Blackwits, 2 male and  female Hen Harrier. James was saying why there were not so Barnies seen today, as most of the earlier arriving geese have now spread round Islay already...

Sunday 10th June

Some sightings through from visitors tonight.  Jake McMahon who has been staying over at the campsite at Kintra, out of Port Ellen. He had seen 5 Eiders out on the water at Kintra, and 9 Gbb Gulls on the shore. Up on the woods to the NW of Kintra he has heard 2 separate Cuckoos calling. He also had seen Hen Harriers along the Cornabus valley along towards Kilnaughton Bay. Each morning he has been woken to a dawn  chorus of Meadow Pipits

Colin and Linda Graham are over with a group of birders from Barnsley. Yesterday, they counted 26 Chough on the roof of Kilchoman House, and also saw a Peregrine and 2 Ravens overhead. Today, they had a Grasshopper Warbler and 2 male Hen Harriers seen on the reserve as well. Up on Nave Island, they saw 10 Little Terns, with the Velvet Scoter seen at Easter Ellister and also a Whinchat close to Loch Gorm. Back here at home we saw 2 different Golden Eagles, one soaring high up on a thermal with  the other away far out, just as well that we had the bins with us and also verified from the "Mallard way birdman"...

Thursday 17th May

Last Saturday, Mandy had heard a Chiffchaff singing in her garden over at Carnduncan, this morning with the dawn chorus, she had a Whitethroat singing away. Mark today had a male Ruff displaying out from the North hide at Gruinart. Up at Ardnave, Mark saw 4 Bonxies, 6 Little Terns and 14 Arctic Terns. Back here at home, the Tree Sparrows are still here, that is over a week that they have been present now.

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.

Wednesday 18th April

Some sightings through from Kendall and Kendall Clark who are visiting Islay for a few days from the States. Along the High road they had seen some Lapwings showing off their acrobatic skills...They also had seen some Whitefronts while driving along the High road as well. Down off the pier at Bowmore, GNDs were seen, with Little Terns seen feeding along the shore towards Lagavullin. Before they arrived on Islay, they had Eider and Tufted Duck present at Kennacraig.

Saturday 22nd July

Yesterday, Gary had seen 3 Little Terns and counted 30 Dunlin at Carnain while over at Gartmain, he saw over 70 Barwits. James, yesterday had seen 4 Swifts while he was up at Ardnave. Today, James saw a Greenshank on the reserve at Gruinart. Also today, Alistair Hart had an excellent sighting of a Whitethroat, between Port Wemyss and Portnahaven and later on great views of a Raven up behind Claddach. Today, while out and about, mainly from here at Kilchoman and over to Gruinart, we felt that were more Wheatears and also more Pied Wagtails around. On the way home this evening there were 3 Buzzards together below Carnduncan.

The monthly Islay Bird nerds meting will be held here at Shepherd's cottage at 7pm on Tuesday evening, so if you are around, feel free to come along.

Sunday 7th May

Yesterday, "Distillery Dave" (David Barr) had been down at Port Wemyss where he saw a Common Sandpiper and 2 Comic Terns. He also heard a Corncrake calling away while having a piece of cake and a cuppa.. Later on, as it was getting dark, and hardly any wind, I took a quick run round Loch Gorm  to try to locate any calling Corncrakes... Not much joy apart from one at Ballinaby!  I also heard some Lapwings, a few Grasshopper Warblers and Sedge Warblers and also a Snipe drumming. Round below Leek, a Hedgehog was on the verge with several Wheatears sitting on the road, not wanting to move out of my way. Bob, last night had a Barn Owl through the willows at the Water works opposite his house....The "Olds" from Pagham are back, great to see you again folks, rather than a voice on the phone... Today, they had seen 12 Whimbrel and a Curlew over at Coull, heard the Corncrake at Port Wemyss, saw a Siskin there too, heard Cuckoos at Rockside and down at Ellister, finally they saw 2 Little Terns along the top of Loch Indaal. The Bowland birders are back for another "Islay fix". Today, they had a raft of over 100 Common Scoter out on Loch Indaal from Port Charlotte, also seen out on the loch were Terns, Razorbill, GND, RTD and Gannets. A walk up through the Octomore trees/ hill proved productive with a Redpoll, Willow Warblers, Song Thrush, 3 Siskin, a Tree Sparrow, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Wheatear, too many Greylags, Whimbrel, Reed Bunting, Moorhen on the Distillery pond at Port Charlote. They too had a Barn Owl last night, possibly the same Owl that Bob had seen as they are staying quite close to Bob...Phill from down on the Oa had taken a walk from Ballygrant out to Beinn Dubh and then back along the "Glen road". The birds Phill saw/ heard were as follows, 2 Red Grouse, 4 Grasshopper Warblers, 3 Whitethroat, a Golden Eagle, Buzzard, 15 Lapwing, Common Sandpiper, 2 Pr of Stonechat, 3 Swallows, Mipits, Skylarks and Song Thrush.

Thursday 27th April

Yesterday evening Mandy had seen a Short eared Owl on her way round Loch Gorm. Later on, Mandy had a Stonechat, heard Willow Warbler, heard Sedge Warbler , seen a Swallow, 2 Chough and a Meadow Pipit all seen close to where she lives, not bad eh???  Coming away from Foreland and the bird nerds on Tuesday evening she had a Goldcrest and yesterday afternoon she saw 20 Greylag with 5 Whitefronts on the lochan below Rockside roadend. Yesterday, James had seen Lapwing chicks on the flats on Gruinart. He also heard at least 3 calling Corncrakes  and counted 6 White Wagtail, over 200 Barnies still present and also 10 Whitefronts on the reserve, Down at Uiskentuie, he had seen a Little Tern and also 7 GND there as well. At Blackrock today James had a count of 72 Pale belied Brent Geese, on the reserve he saw a Pink footed Goose and counted 9 White Wagtails. Mark saw a Sparrowhawk up at Kilnave. Peter Gill had spotted a male Hen Harrier over close to Bun an Uillt. On his way along the road leading to Finlaggan, he saw a ringtail Hen Harrier with another seen over the forestry. He also had seen 2 Sparrowhawk in the air over the trees the too. Finally, he had a Great spotted Woodpecker as he went along the "Glen Road" just out of Ballygrant.

Wednesday 19th April

I know that this image is not a bird, but I was really surprised to see this young leveret this morning, just as well that I had my camera in my hand!

Late yesterday afternoon, Margaret had counted 22 Chough out on the Machir. Also yesterday,  visiting birder Angus Hogg had seen 2 Arctic Tern on Loch Indaal, on Monday he had a Cuckoo over at Ballygrant with a Whimbrel and a Little Tern seen at Gruinart on Sunday. Peter Roberts today had gone out to see if he could locate the Little Gull, no joy , but he had 15 Eider at Uiskentuie with a raft of 35 R b Merganser out on Loch Indaal, Peter also had seen a further 20 Eider earlier on back at Bruichladdich.  Today, Bob had seen 32 Golden Plover in summer plumage and a Whimbrel in the Octofad fields behind Port Charlotte. Peter Gill had been over at Bunnahabhain today where he had Golden Eagle flying over from Jura, 4 Common Sandpiper on the shore, heard a Chiffchaff singing there as well, back close to Ardnahoe, 3 Red legged Partridge were present. Down at Loch Allan, 2 Long tailed Tits were seen, a Cuckoo heard as was a Blackcap. Here at home, there were 4 Swallows hawking the fields looking for food. Maggie Bell was in touch with Mark Shields to say that she had seen 9 Pale bellied Brent Geese on Loch Leodamais Bay at Port Ellen.

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

Wednesday 11th May

Another glorious day out here today, earlier this morning Carol Kirkwood on the BBC weather forecast  stated that at that point Islay was hottest place in the UK, and that was before 8am... Possibly all contributors have gone sunbathing today as not a lot to report so far. Last night when we down watching the Hawfinch, there were also 3 Siskins present along with Chaffinches, Goldfinches and a couple of Greenfinches as well. Here at home today, there was a Lesser Redpoll and a couple of Greenfinches apart from our usual Goldfinches etc. This evening along at Rockside on the barley fields were 38 Greylags while at Ballinaby, 10 Golden Plover and 4 Dunlin were seen. Speaking with Bob last night, we were both of the same opinion that we thought that there were more Cuckoos around this year...  The Bowland birders today had seen the Garganey drake on the left hand flood in front of the viewing platform. Also there were 2 Whoopers. Along at the North hide/new hide/ Taigh Tuath, 3 Ruff were spotted along with a Snipe and a Mistle Thrush. A walk round Ardnave Point produced 5 Little Terns & 2 Sandwich Terns. There was also a steady movement of Arctic Terns, around 1 flew past every minute for over an hour. Other birds seen included 60 Barwits, 30 Ringed Plover, 25 Sanderling, 7 Dunlin and 6 Whimbrel. Back at the steading , 2 different Corncrakes were heard with a pair of Tufties seen on the Loch

Sunday 5th July

Sorry folks, computer problems last night, hence no entry, so fingers crossed that it all works this evening!! Friday evening was Armin's last during his recent visit. Round at Ballinaby, he had a Curlew on top of a fence post "alarm calling" before it dropped down down into the grass field and its' young! Round at Carnduncan, he saw a male Hen Harrier, before it flew on out of sight. Thanks Armin for your birds while you were here. Gary yesterday had seen 15 Little Terns fishing in Loch Gruinart, and in a field close to Bun an Uillt, he counted 200 Starlings together. Out in front of the old hide Gary had a male Hen Harrier out for the best part of an hour, it managed to put up around 10 Dunlins as it quartered back and forward. Peter yesterday had counted 200 Starlings in a "mummeration" before they went in to roost at Bruichladdich Pier. Surely it is not a sign that the Autumn is coming with increasing numbers of Starlings... Bob today had seen a "scruffy looking" ringtail Hen Harrier, no doubt tired and worn out with trying to raise a successful brood!

Wednesday 17th June

Think that Summer has been and gone, it has not been that great a day outside with the temperature just over 12 degrees, and come to think of it the longest day is almost here, oh no, the days will start to get shorter....Back on Saturday some visitors had seen an Osprey successfully fishing on Loch Finlaggan!!! Ron Todd, another visitor, yesterday had seen Wheatears and Meadow Pipits while down on the Oa, up at Gruinart he had a pair of Teal mating. He also had some Shovelers there too. Just out of Port Charlotte towards Kilchiaran, Ron had a Cuckoo. Also on his travels, he had 3 different male Hen Harriers and also some Stonechats. Tom from Cumbria had been up at Ardnave today and saw 2 different male Hen Harriers. Over Nave island, a Bonxie was spotted with a pair of Little Terns fishing. Round at Sanaigmore, in the bay were 6 Eiders with only one youngster, a pair of Shelduck were also present there too.

Thursday 14th May

A cracker of a day with the weather today, not as hot as Spain where they were possibly looking at 40 degrees today, so think it was just as well we were there last week... Yesterday, Gary off Bruichladdich Pier had seen 12 Black Guillemots, 23 GND, 1 RTD and an Osprey flying South along the coastline. He also had a good mix of Arctic and Sandwich Terns nearby as well. Later on along at Uisekentuie, 2 Little Terns were fishing offshore and an Osprey was noted flying North over the trig point. Finally, Gary had watched an Osprey fishing on Loch Gruinart before Gulls came along to mob it, and it flew higher and eventually drifting South, possibly the same Osprey on all 3 sightings. Yesterday, birders from south of Inverness had seen 2 Golden Eagles while down on the Oa. Last night, Peter Roberts had heard a Corncrake out behind his house in Bruichladdich. Today on the reserve at Gruinart, James had seen 4 Barnies, 13 Woodpigeons, 8 Blackwit, 14 Whimbrel, 1 Bonxie and a "best count" of 1700 Dunlins.

Monday 11th May

A mixed sort of a day with the weather out here today, and also a lot cooler than this time last week when we were over bird watching in Extramadura in Spain. Peter Roberts led the group, ably assisted by Jim Dickson from Carbaan, Jim is a member of the Argyll Bird Club, Daphne Campbell another ARC member with the others, Bob Davison, George Jackson, David Formby, Margaret and myself, all members of the Islay bird nerds made up the group. We all had a great time with over 130 species seen, not sure of the highlight but hard to pick out for sure, was it a Black Stork, or a more common bird like a Golden Oriole, or a Bee eater...Yes, a good time and thanks to Peter for organising it all for us. Yesterday, some sightings through from RAFOS... At the top of Loch Indaal, they saw 32 Red breasted Merganser and also a Goosander. Also present there, were 2 Little Terns. Up at Sanaigmore, a Whitethroat was heard singing away with 5 Golden Plovers seen at Saligo with a strong feeding passage of Gannets was noted further offshore there. Back over at Kilchoman, a male Hen Harrier was seen flying close to their cottages.

Monday 19th may

A bit of a late entry I know, but when I normally write the "post" this evening we were in the middle of a spectacular thunder and and lightening storm along with some torrential rain, so here goes.... The Bowland birders yesterday seen 2 Barwits along with a Whooper from the viewing platform at Gruinart, along at Blackrock they saw 2 Little Terns and 3 Arctic Terns,and from Bridgend they walked round the Claggain strip where they had Willow Warbler, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 pr of Bullfinches, heard Chiffchaff, Great Tit,Blue Tit, Treecreeper and Buzzard all seen. Peter Donaldson yesterday had seen 2 Cuckoos being chased by 2 Meadow Pipits down at Easter Ellister, one of the Cuckoos made of, leaving the other to face the music... this continued for around 10 - 15 minutes with the said Cuckoo getting moved along a fence line from one stob to the next one along a length of around 100 metres before going onto the telegraph wire! Ken and Sal yesterday had 78 different species yesterday alone, a great start to their visit, their highlights included seeing good numbers of Greenland Wheatears at Ballinaby and also up at Sanaigmore, as well as the Northern Wheatears all through their day, also at Sanaigmore they heard 2 Corncrakes calling. On the way up to Killinallan they saw 6 Whimbrel and also a Little Tern feeding, they also saw 4 GND there, as well as 3 in the bay at Sanaigmore. Down from Port Wemyss they reported a steady stream of Gannets fly past in groups of 10- 20, lots of Razorbills, lots of Guillemots, 2 Puffins, over 10 Kittiwakes and a few Fulmars. Today Bob had come up and counted the mixed flock of Ringed Plover/ Dunlin that we had seen yesterday evening, Bob counted 300 Ringed Plover and 50 Dunlin, we checked before the "storm" this evening and they had all moved on...Bob also was telling me of seeing 2 prs of Stonechats out with their new broods up beside his house, great! Dave had an Osprey down at Kilnaughton Bay today, back on the reserve on the Oa, he had the Iceland Gull present and also saw a Spotted Flycatcher while Mark had a Bullfinch there as well.