Thursday 14 July

 

David D took this photo of a juvenile cuckoo near the Oa carpark. Instinct is an incredible thing, to be raised by meadow pipits but to 'know' they are cuckoo; to migrate and go onto lay their eggs in other birds nest without any of it learned from a parent...amazing!  When I was young, my parents hatched some ducklings from under a hen. She was most distressed when they leapt into water every chance they got, the instinct too strong to ignore. The same cannot be said for the chickens hatched out under a duck. 

 This evening at Claddach, a peregrine was being seen off by resident gulls. Similarly this morning a buzzard was being mobbed by a pair of herring gulls. A pair of lapwing were in the fields near the house.  out at the gulls, wheatear, rock pipit, meadow pipit, greylag geese, and gannet off shore. 

The unavoidable subject of avian flu is on everyones minds. The local charity 'Islay Development Initiative' among many things, clean the beaches. Today from just around a quarter of the The Big Strand they collected 168 birds (mainly guilliemots).  As ever the advice is do not touch or intervene. Report any suspected cases to DEFRA 03459 335577.

Mary

Thurs 24 Feb

 

Mary-Ann sent the attached image of two WTE seen over Fairy Hill to the SE of the island.  She also counted 22 curlew at Ardbeg.

Gary had a nice count of 8 snow bunting in flight near Ballygrant.  At Scarabus an Iceland Gull, while at Gartmain he spotted a Glaucous.  Steve Williams reported 2 Iceland gulls at Uiskentui/Black Rock area.

Will Scott reported his highlights: 9 GN diver at Kilnaughton, WTE near the airport, 2 Slav grebes and 5 GN diver off Bowmore, and a long tail duck in flight.  Ring-tailed hen harrier and a little egret at RSPB Loch Gruinart. Over on the eastern side of Loch Gruinart, a GN Diver, both golden and WTE, merlin and 110 pintail.  At the Oa, a young WTE, peregrine and 50 twite.

Thanks to all for their contributions.

Very cold tonight, and the hailstones hammering the window don't encourage the notion that Tomorrow is to be a nice day! We shall see...

Perhaps inevitably though nonetheless sadly, bird flu (HPAI) H5N1 has been recorded on Islay from a Barnacle goose tested on the 9 February.  Nature Scot reminds us of the advice not to touch dead birds at this time, and report any single dead waterfowl, single bird of prey, or five or more dead wild birds of any other species to DEFRA 03459 33 55 77.

Tuesday 5 October

Forgot to add last night, my mum reported 'loads of geese' at Claddach Loch, plus a single whooper swan.  She could hear the gabbling away from the house so walked up to look.  More barnacle geese have been arriving this afternoon, I counted 3 small skeins flying south off the Frenchmans at lunchtime and curving in towards land against the wind.  James had a high count of 1915 barnacles at Loch Gruinart, plus a red-breasted goose among them.

Photo by Sam Hood.  

While I was out late morning, I took the dogs and my wee lad a walk on the beach near the Coal yard, I heard a strange sound like a distant jet only to be narrowly missed by a low flying peregrine! What a speed it must have been going at! I must have stepped into its path judging by how close it came and how sharp it turned upwards away.  The oystercatchers ahead of me can thank me next time.  A little later, 3 Arctic tern flew low over us, seemingly to see what we were doing.  As I got into the car, a lone swallow flew over.  Earlier at the road end of Gartmain Farm, just outside Bowmore, I had a nice sighting of 3 yellowhammer flying out from the gorse bushes heading into a bare rowan tree.  

A friend in Portnahaven told me about 3 white-tailed eagles on McKenzie Island. So if you're a visitor looking for a good place to catch sight of them, its a good place to start!

Tuesday 14 September

 Bit of a blowy day here today, but still mild. A huge swell off the west coast which stopped local fisherman getting a good day in.  There was a cruise ships passing the west coast this evening, lit up like a floating city. Hope the swell had died down a bit for the passengers! The 'Anthem of the Seas' was heading up to Kirkwall. It could take all of the Ileachs on board with room to spare - 4,180 passengers over 16 decks, and cost $940million to build, apparently on the worlds most expensive cruise ships....makes me feel a bit small... and bewildered! Having a swimming pool on a boat (or 3 in this case) feels a bit like having a treadmill on the roof of the car.

Anyway, birds!  There is still a few wheatear about - 2 at the old school in Portnahaven, 1 up at Claddach loch, and 2 off the coastal path at Port Wemyss. 

Ed noted some fresh pale bellied Brent in the bay at Port Ellen last night and they were still there this morning. Gary had a male merlin on the road at the Ardnahoe pump house. David Dinsley spotted 2 osprey and a peregrine at Bridgend merse.  He watched as the osprey "drifted off towards Bowmore" where David Wood was at the right place at the right time! He watched as one of the osprey caught a fish, just in front of the Gaelic college. 

At Loch Gruinart, James spotted a white-tailed eagle.

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.

Thursday 9 September

 I was up in Bowmore today ('up country') and every farm en route was buzzing with activity ahead of tomorrows sheep and lamb sale.  Over 5000 animals are expected to be sold - the island will sit slightly higher in the water on Saturday!  Happily, as restrictions have eased, there ought to be tea and home baking at the sales again. The highlight of the day. 

Back to birds.

Clive was scanning through over 750 small waders at the western side of Loch Gruinart when a peregrine disturbed the lot.  He also spotted 6 pale-bellied brents on one of the high tide islands on Loch Gruinart.  Their arrival is always exciting to me, they are real heralds of the changing seasons:  It isn't officially summer until the swallow is seen, and it isn't officially autumn until the pale-bellied brents arrive.  Somebody needs to tell the swallows to get a wiggle on.

Back home in Port Wemyss a robin was singing loudly outside the house this evening. It is still very mild here so plenty insects active for the birds to feed on.

Wednesday 2nd June

The only comment that I can start off with is that at least it has remained dry so far today, although, it is a wee bit cooler than yesterday, so possibly a sign that we might be getting some rain coming in over the next 24 hours.  Meanwhile, the rain that fell in Matthew Jackson's rain guage came to 1.94 inches for May...

It comes as no real suprise that I do not have any bird sightings to tell you about tonight, mainy because  of the simple fact that most of my usual contributors are off Islay for one reason or another... Come to think about the birds around here, and I forgot to mention that we had seen a Peregrine flying over the crag yesterday.

Sunday 30th May

Yesterday David Dinsley had seen a Spotted Flycatcher  at Kinnabus on the Oa and he told me that it was present over there all day...

Also yesterday, Margaret had seen a Peregrine Falcon, flying away from here up over the crag...

I was speaking to a visitor this morning, who said  that he had heard a Corncrake calling down towards Machir Bay and that he hd seen some Reed Buntings in the reed bed there as well both yesterday evening.

This morning he had seen a Golden Eagle soaring away high up, when he was out

Tuesday 25th May

"A not bad sort of a day", so we managed to cut the grass, what a difference it makes... 

Chris Brock had seen a GND and a couple of Tysties close by the boat off Port Ellen this morning...😉

Lauren Stewart had carried out her WeBS count on Loch Gruinart yesteday, with the tally coming through as follows...

Shelduck 11, Mallard 6, Eider 2, Oystercatcher 125, Ringed plover 529, Lapwing 2, Dunlin 922, Bar-tailed Godwit 49, Curlew 18, Redshank 4, Black headed gull 18, Common gull 63, Lesser black-backed gull 2, Herring gull 33, Canada Goose 3, Swallow 4, Whimbrel 8, Peregrine 1 & Greenshank 1

Friday 11th December

 Well, the weather has been a bit better out here on Islay today... "the lull before the storm," as there is more rain forecast to come again over the next few days..

Today, James had seen 2 Little Egrets, a Peregrine Falcon and also 2 Hen Harriers over at Gruinart.

Wednesday 9th December

Yet again a dreich kind of a day out here again, and to cap it all Calmac have announced this afternoon that we are down to a single ferry timetable until next Friday,as our other boat has broken down again, say no more on that topic please...

Last night I forgot to mention that we had seen a Peregrine scream across the garden and on its way out towards the machir.. This morning we had a small flock of 14 Rock Doves down on the ground, close to where we have had some "wild flower plots" in other years... 

Sunday 6th December

Gary, e mailed the following birds... "

Some sightings from today at Finlaggan,

1 Merlin, 2 Peregrines, 2 Buzzards, 1 male Hen Harrier, 1 juvenile Golden Eagle and an adult White tailed Eagle.

At home a male Redpoll investigating the big bird table

Over at our home, it has been a bit cooler, but the birds have been glad of the food on offer. 

Earlier on this evening we were outside watching the International Space staiton, fly past. and all going well should see it again shortly as it only takes 90 minutes to orbit the world...

Yesterday was the Naturetrek's final full day before heading back to the mainland today... So many thanks to Neil McMahon who has been sending their sightings through to me to use, so here are the birds seen by them... "Failed again to see the Rosy Starling at Bowmore! A male Brambling was heard calling in the large Chaffinch flock but not seen and the female Long-tailed Duck was still present along with 2 Eider.

We went to Loch Skerrols but the visibility was too poor to check through the ducks for the American Wigeon. There were still plenty of Whooper Swans just about discernible in the murk! Loch Finlaggan provided a male Hen Harrier, 4 Lesser Redpolls, Goldeneye and Little Grebe. A Great Northern Diver was off Bunnahabhain and a male Sparrowhawk, Goldcrests etc were along the road towards the distillery (plus three Roe Deer). We had a quick look for the Hoopoe but dipped again!

 A small flock of Pale-bellied Brents were on the north shore of Loch Indaal, a 'ringtail' Hen Harrier was at Kilchoman Distillery and another Roe Deer near Loch Gorm. An interesting-looking and huge first year female Peregrine was disturbed off a telegraph pole at Grulinmore - east side of Loch Gorm - possibly a 'Tundra' Peregrine...

Ardnave Point provided an adult White-tailed Eagle chasing Barnacle Geese, another adult male Hen Harrier, ca25 Choughs and ca50 Twite and another Great Northern Diver. We finished with a Barn Owl at Druim na h-Erasaid."

 So many thanks again to Neil along with his team of folk visiting and sending through their sightings. 

Yesterday was Mike Bell's first full day on Islay of this visit when he had seen these birds..

A male Peregrine south side loch Gorm.

Loch Gruinart: Whooper Swan 7, Teal 850, Pintail 28,Shoveler 27, WTE 1 imm, Golden Plover c1300, Dunlin c300, Greenshank 4.

Ballinaby, Pinkfoot 1 seen with WF,  WTE 2 imm, Chough 4

Saligo Bay, Golden Eagle 1

 Very few birds Bridgend or the Bowmore shore of Loch Indaal at midday."

Mike was telling me earlier on that he too had seen the American Wigeon in at Loch Skerrols today.

James braved the elements today and managed these birds on the reserve at Gruinart...

Goose count today – lots of geese possibly hanging around reserve after night feeding with the bigger moons

"Barnies – 20740, White fronts – 468, Greylag – 8, Pink foot – 1, Leucistic goose on flats

White tailed eagle juv on loch – caught a goose, Peregrine- back of Flats, Yellowhammer 2- Near Craigens turn." 

Gary today had seen the Rose coloured Starling in at the co-op in Bowmore today. He had also seen 3 different WT Eagles in at Bowmore and around Loch Indaal and also 3 different Goldies seen in around Ballygrant area as well

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.

Thursday 8th October

 Well, here goes fingers crossed and all that... mainly sightings from yesterday but better late than never!!!

Peter Roberts had carried out a sea watch down at Frenchman's Rocks for around 90 minutes yesterday morning..  1 GND, 2 RTD, a Manxie, 6 RBM, 475 Auk species, 133 Gannets and also 601 Kittiwakes.

Visitor Jacqui Relph had seen 3 Golden Eagles down on the Oa, and then as she drove back to Port Ellen, she had 2 Hen Harriers. She also saw a Rock Pipit and also a Razorbill over at Claggain Bay.

Peter Gill had a Peregrine fly overhead as he was scanning through the geese at Gruinart and then a wee while later on, he had a Wheatear on the roadside. Down at Bridgend, he saw a White tailed Eagle sitting watching all that was happening around and then a second WTE flew in. Also present were 14 Whooper Swans. Loch Ballygrant there were 2 Dabchicks, but no Tufted Ducks seen. Over at Finlaggan, Peter had a probable Golden Eagle seen.

Gary phoned through and told Margaret that he had seen the Hoopoe down in the Bridgend area this morning, a long staying Hoopoe for sure...

Tuesday 1st September

 Mandy e mailed this sighting seen by herself ..

"Yesterday, whilst driving to the beach, I saw an adult Peregrine on a fence post- probably the best view I've ever had! Between the phone box and Ballinaby."

James e mailed his birds seen yesterday as well....

"A quick look over the Loch at high tide before supper last night:

Osprey (caught a fish)

WTE juv

Peregrine

Hen Harrier

Black tailed godwits 5 flying south

Almost forgot, (oops!!!!) but the rain that was recorded in Matt Jackson's rain gauge down at Rockside road end came to a mere 2.76" for the month of August...

Thursday 13th August

Some sightings in for us all to ogle at, mainly referring to yesterday....

Alistair Hart had been out on his bike, with the following comments through from himself..  "Cycled up to Lossit and back over the Octofad road. Highlight was an Islay experience of cycling alongside a hunting ringtail Hen Harrier from Cladville to Airigh Sgallaidh. Also juvenile Buzzard calling vociferously just before Wester Ellister on my way home to Portnahaven."

George E. Jackson e mailed some sightings through to me as well... "This morning down at Machir Bay, an imm. Peregrine sitting atop an eroded sand dune in the field across from the parking area, ignoring little birds flitting past and contemplating the world. This evening, about fifteen Swallows zooming round the house at Rockside, closely examining the artificial House Martin box (unused) and the rest of the roofline - perhaps looking for sites for next year?"

Christine Menzies had seen a White tailed Eagle when she was out along the High road yesterday. evening..

Peter had some birds through from Tuesday (11th) there was an Osprey fishing in Loch Gruinart and yesterday an hour watching off Frenchman's Rocks produced  a range of the usual seabirds - 50+ Manxies, and a lots of Gannets plus a few Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Razorbills and Guillemots.

Thursday 6th August

James was in touch with his rainfall figures for July and also some birds as well..

"The rainfall figures for Mill cottage were 5.7 inches for July and a massive 2 inches for Tuesday. I checked over Loch Gorm seeing a juvenile White tailed Eagle on the Ballinaby side of Loch and also a Peregrine." 

Saturday 18th July

I was speaking to James earlier on this evening and he was saying tat he had seen 3 Blackwits flying in from the North yesterday and they flew up to the top end of Loch Gruinart. Today, he had seen an Adder out sunning itself.

Gary was in touch, last night, just after I had posted last nights'  entry on the blog, he was telling me that he had seen 3 Peregrines fly past Bunnahabhain while Sam had seen a ringtail Hen Harrier while she was waiting for Gary coming to pick up from her work at Ardnahoe Distillery...

Sunday 14th June

A couple of birds seen by James yesterday.. He saw a Peregrine carrying some prey home to its' young. Back at Mill cottage, he saw his first Siskin of the year.