Friday 10 September

 Better late than never! Mobile network was down on the island most of yesterday and through the night. Appears to be better for now although I can't seem to upload photos. Perhaps Pete will have more luck today.

Yesterday was quite a still day with rolling fog but there was some activity with 11 wheatears feeding on the track near Claddach Loch. Jim had a count of 18 on there drive round Loch Gorm.

More pale-bellied brents appeared: a flock of 57 on Loch Gruinart with potentially an other 53, a further count today will confirm. The curlew sandpiper was still present, and the osprey still in attendance. Must be getting plenty fish! James had peregrine as well as 33 meadow pipits in the fields about his home. 

Jim had some lovely views of the Octofad carrion crow, showing a "touch of grey hybrid features".  Louise then reported a carrion crow in Port Ellen.

Friday 14th September

The other day, Bob had seen around 2,000 Meadow Pipit fly over his house, heading West towards Kilchiaran in a 2 hour watch. Louise, yesterday, had a charm of over 100 Goldfinch round at Ballinaby in the morning. Distillery Dave had seen a small group of Pale bellied Brent at Bun an UIsg, just as he was coming out of Bowmore, but could not get a right count as he was in a line of traffic, in the early evening.
This morning, on my way home from Bowmore, a Merlin flew across the road down at McNichol's croft. This afternoon, Martin Armstrong had seen around 95 Twite up here on the bird seed crop and then later on, I had  another flock of around a further 65 Twite.

Saturday 15th April

Returning visiting birder, George E Jackson is back on Islay for a few days. On Thursday evening, George has 2 Snipe drumming over the merse at Whinpark. Early yesterday afternoon around Cattadale, on the "glen road" he had a feeding flock of around 50 Meadow Pipits. Later, on Loch nan Cadhan 4 Tufted Ducks were present with around 20 Herring Gulls mulling around there as well. Oliver headed home today, but yesterday had carried out a walk part of Islay's Northwest coast where he saw a Peregrine, a distant Golden Eagle and a Raven having a tussle with 2 Hooded Crows. Later on Oliver had a Sparrowhawk skimming over the grassland close to Saligo and then saw 20 Sandwich Terns off Bruichladdich. Today was Armin's last day before heading home, but a quick glace of the window at Clachan Cottages produced a male Hen Harrier out on the wing, flying across the  moorland towards Gartbreck. Here at home, we had a pair of Redpolls, 2 male and a female Greenfinch on the feeders. Down at Whinpark there were around 15 Sand Martins hawking over the merse  around lunchtime. George had seen 2 Wheatear at Machir Bay today.

Monday 25th April

The weather here today was similar to yesterday but there appears to be an even colder edge to the wind again with the odd shower with hail in the air... The Leigh birders have returned to visit Islay again after an absence of over 3 years, and are carrying out a Spring visit this time round.. Yesterday they had gone over to Jura, so here are some of their top birds. a White Tailed Eagle, 2 male Hen Harrier, 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 5 Cuckoos, dozens of Willow Warblers, 6 Common Sandpipers together, 2 Greenfinch, several Wheatear, a group of around 100 Meadow Pipits in one field, 5 Swallows, 2 Siskin, just some from their list of over 40 species seen.

Remember that the bird nerds will be meeting tomorrow evening at 6.30 at the car park leading to Islay House Square for a stroll through Bridgend woods, so might see some of you there, if you are around!

Friday 15th April

Today in Ardnave James saw a pink-footed goose, loads of wheatears, 2 whooper swans on Ardnave Loch and 205 grey seals in Loch Gruinart. Yesterday Fiona saw 3 sand martins at Killinallan Point while doing a guided walk for Walk Islay. Today there was a female sparrowhawk seen at Lyrabus. Walk Islay finished today with a walk on one of the Paps of Jura - Beinn an Oir. During the walk we had a good view of a single meadow pipit.

Saturday 18th July

Not as much rain fell last night compared to other places, but all the same today the wind has dropped and it was dry again. The garden, the trees and the flower border has taken some tanking, bit of a shame to put it politely! This evening outside there appears to be more Meadow Pipits around, the Willow Warbler was still down close to the new pond as was the Pied Wagtail, good to see someone inspecting the job already. There was also a hen Pheasant defending her patch in the long grass, by the sound of things protecting her brood... Out over the crag, a Buzzard was circling around high up. Tomorrow morning, if the weather holds Bob, Garry doing and myself will be carrying out the WeBs count, so watch this space tomorrow night to read what we saw....

Thursday 24th April

Yesterday, the Argyll birder reported through that were more Golden Plovers and House Martins around.. At Gruinart he had 8 House Martins, 1 Barwit and 250 Dunlin. At Ballinaby, there were 440 Golden Plover along with 16 Ringed Plover. Ardnave held 196 Golden Plover, a further 65 at Craigens and also 78 at Conisby! At the head of Loch Indaal, 38 Barwits were seen along with 8 Knot. At Bun an uillt, a female Goldeneye was seen while between Coillabus and Erasaid, 10 House Martins were present. Today, the Rochdale birders had seen 17 Whimbrel and then a futher 6 a few moments later. At Loch Tallant they saw an adult Whooper with a juv. Yesterday over at Finlaggan, they saw 60 Meadow Pipits fly low in a N E direction in the space of a couple of minutes. This morning Michal had a Chiifchaff at Moulin while Emily was awoken to a Cuckoo calling....

Wed 10th March

Today, George had seen a couple of Otters on Loch Indaal, as well as quite few Great Northern diver and Scoter. He was also saying that he was noticing Shelduck pairing up, and also the same with some of the Chough.

Also today, James thought that there were both Skylark and Meadow Pipits moving through.

Coming out of Bowmore, and the family of Mute Swan are still all together, to think that only on Friday they were almost round at Port Charlotte when I saw them then. There were 19 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Bruichladdich this afternoon, and on Loch Gorm, we counted 56 Whooper Swan, originally at 12.45 and they were still all there at 16.30.

Wed 26th March

These 2 cock Pheasants were letting the hormones get the better of them in the garden and were setting up for a scrap. The pheasants have certainly been seeing each other off lately and trying their best to woo the females. Some of the Red legged Partridges that were released locally for shooting back in last August, that survived through the winter have also been seen out in pairs at various different places. Certainly with the mating season being here again with the birds, it has given me a greater opportunity to get the camera out in use again. The birds themselves have obviously become more aggresive and territorial, so giving me some useful shots.

Down at Rock Mountain today, there was a fall of 117 Meadow Pipit. The cold winds from the North have gone, and instead we have had rain today with a raw edge to it. IKB

Thurs 20th March

As the weather has not been very good today, I have an entry relating to Wednesday from Malcolm.

Out Goose counting on Kildalton and Oa again today. There was definately no Bar-headed Goose at Cornabus today (Wed) either. Both the male and female Hen Harrier were seen again at Cornabus.

81 Barnacles at Kinnabus for the second day running. They are not very usual here, the nearest ones being at Cornabus, making me wonder whether they are arrivals from Ireland, stopping off at the first point they reached and joining the c.400 Whitefronts there.

The collared Whitefront seen by Catherine, must I think, have been FOL, which was seen in the Lyrabus-Blackpark area back in November, but not seen since. It was originally caught and ringed at Wexford, Ireland, in winter 1995/6, came to Islay the next winter and then returned to Wexford for the following winters. It returned back to Islay in 2001/2 and has been here every winter since, and almost always in the same area around Uiskentuie and Lyrabus. MAO

Yesterday, here at home we had 8 Meadow Pipits, and a first with a pair of Lapwings displaying in the field. As far as I can recollect, it was our first Lapwings seen here. Today, the Fulmars are back on the crag, and as I write tonight, the wind has certainly started to pick up. IKB

Mon 17th - Tues 18th March

Apolgies for not doing an entry yesterday, but for some reason or another I was unable to gain access through Internet Explorer....

At this point I would like to welcome another new contributor, Louise Gregory. Louise lives on Jura and "commutes" every day, weather permitting, to her job with SNH based in Bowmore, but her area takes in Islay, Jura and Colonsay. She hopes to give a weekly update of what she has been seeing whilst travelling back and forward to work.

"Spring has sprung and finally I am commuting in daylight! The horozontal rain has also let up and conditions are much better for bird spotting. At home, at Gatehouse, I have seen my first Great and Blue Tit on the bird table, the first since moving here". This past week, there were 12 Whooper Swan in Tarbet Bay, 20+ Fieldfare at Ardfin, also at Ardfin there was a Golden Eagle seen as well as a pair of Kestrel while at Inver there was a juvenile White-tailed Eagle. Still on the Birds of Prey, on a 3 mile stretch of the road one day, there were 3 separate female Hen Harrier. One evening, there were 50+ Barnacle Geese returning to the roost at Inver Fish Farm.

Apart from the Great and Blue Tit on the bird table, there was also a pair of Siskin. Snipe were also heard drumming up at Gatehouse. LG

On Monday, there were 62 Whooper swan on the floods at RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve, while on Loch Kinnabus on the Oa reserve, there was a count of 250 Greenland whitefronts and 50 Barnacle Geese. Several Meadow Pipits were heard singing and a single male Hen Harrier was spotted at Glen Astle. 14 Chough in total were seen in different groups around the reserve. A single adult Golden Eagle was seen flying overhead, about 30 metres above us at the end of the day. CF &MS

A late entry for Sunday was the sighting of a Bumble bee at Gruinart reserve, whist today there was a White tailed Sea Eagle soaring on the thermals. This bird had yellow tags, which year that is I will check on tomorrow. The Jura bird had white tags indicating it was a 07 bird. Primroses are starting to flower now and there has been a slight increase in the number of Song Thrush seen. JRH & RAS

Finally, back here at home, I was watching a pair of Chough taking nesting material back to their nest site, and also here on Monday was my first Bumble Bee of the year. IKB