Wednesday 6th January

 Karen Graham from Bearsden e mailed the following to me today...

"Looking out this afternoon to see male Goldcrest with his orange "streak" and a female Goldcrest both on fat cakes on bush close to  the dining room window. 

So an exciting addition to the garden bird sightings.  Just hope they are here for RSPB garden bird watch at the end of the month."

Today, Peter had been out and he had walked the length of the Big Strand from Kintra to Laggan today. Not much to report - 10+ Long-tailed ducks (mostly bright males) were offshore with 20+ Eider and 2-3 each of GND & RTD. A single Razorbill was also offshore.

Up here at home today, I saw the local pair of Chough with them both looking a picture of health with nice shiny coats. I saw them both together, one time before Xmas and they were looking a bit under the weather, so it was good to see them in the condition they were in today.

Monday 26th March

Back on Saturday, Peter had been over on Jura along with some visiting friends. They witnessed a "good showing of Hen Harriers" with 2 different males displaying to a total of 3 females.. They also saw 4 Canada Geese,  just out of Craighouse. Up past Lealt, at the end of the public road on Jura, a Yellowhammer was spotted. Back on Islay, they had a count of 18 Tysties at Port Askaig. Yesterday they walked round Ardnave Point with impressive numbers of Lapwing and Skylark displaying and calling away. They also had 2 Wheatear and a total of 8 Snipe. Back at Bruichladdich, they saw 2 Razorbill at the pier.

Visitor Richard had seen an Iceland Gull on Machir Bay this morning, and commented on seeing several Chough there as well. Down on the Oa, Richard had a mixed flock of Linnet and Twite. He also had Raven, a few Chough and also Fulmars. Down at Kilnaughton Bay, 2 Rock Pipits were seen with some Eider and a GND present out on the water. Over at the "Singing Sands" he saw a Stonechat. Over past Ardbeg, on Claggain Bay, he had a RTD and  2 GND. Other visitors, Andy and Graham along with their wives had seen 2 Yellowhammers and also a small mixed flock of Linnet and Twite close to their cottage at Kilchoman.

Tomorrow night, at  the Islay bird nerds will be meeting at 7pm in the Gaelic College for our monthly catch up, so if you are over on Islay at present, you will be made most wlcome. There will be a small charge to help pay for the rom hire, so hopefully see some new/ old faces along...

Friday 9th March

An early entry tonight as I am going out shortly..

Mainly,  some sightings through from yesterday. William Earp's top birds were as follows: Off Bowmore he had 7 P B Brent Geese, Ardnahoe Loch held 8 Whoopers including 4 juveniles. Up at Bunnahabhain, a Grey Wagtail was seen while out in the Bay, north of the distillery, an Otter was present. Down at Finlaggan, he had a juv Iceland Gull. Over at Gruinart, he counted 207 Golden Plover along the flats, some of which were starting to wear their summer plumage. From the hide at Gruinart, 2 Greenshank were seen, up at Ardnave, he had a flock of around 30 Chough and finally at the dusk, he had some Woodcock, at Gruinart. Kathy had a male Hen Harrier south of Dunlossit, a pale leucistic Barnacle Goose amongst a large flock of geese North of Cluanach. Down close to Kildalton Cross, she had 3 Yellowhammers and finally along at Claggain Bay, a Long tailed Tit. Peter Roberts had a Razorbill beside the pier at Bruichladdich. This afternoon,  Mandy was in touch to say that she had seen 4 Whitefronts with neck collars fitted in a small flock of around 20 or so geese below Carnduncan.

Saturday 2nd August

Yesterday, Mary had a Hen Harrier over the flats at the reserve at Gruinart.... She also saw a Pipistrelle bat crossing the road, so she removed it to a "safe place" away from the road... David, one of the "vols " had seen a Bonxie up at Ardnave where he he also saw an Otter. On the woodland trail yesterday, Willow Warblers were heard singing away. Peter Roberts took the ferry over to Kennacraig as he headed out and he reported through that there were a lot of Guillemots and also Razorbills on the sea with their youngsters, earlier when Peter had come back to here earlier on this week, there had been no sign of any Guillemots or Razorbills. This evening, there were 15 Song Thrushes hopping around out on the grass after the rain, no doubt looking for food. There is a flat slab outside the kitchen window where the Thrushes use as somewhere to bash their snails before devouring them! I have seen them doing this often from afar, but here they are really close at hand.

Monday 13th January

A better day over here, no rain to speak of, altough not the warmest of days...still it is January!!! Yesterday Peter saw a Razorbill and also a juv. Kittiwake, both off the pier at Bruichladdich. Today Peter reported through that the Iceland Gull was still along close to Uiskentuie, but no reports of our ever faithful Iceland Gull over at Bunnahabhain so far. Over at Port Ellen today, Bob had 4 female Goldeneye in the bay, down on the Oa, 2 ringtail Hen Harriers were seen with a male along the low road and another male close to his house up behind Port Charlotte, late afternoon.

Tuesday 17th July

Visitors reported last night that they had seen a Razorbill swimming with young in Loch Indaal below Port Charlotte. They watched for some time and saw the adult bird feeding the young, so possibly proof that they had indeed bred on Loch Indaal. This morning they had a young Goldfinch, Willow Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher in the willows here at Kilchoman, all in a matter of minutes. Later on, they had a young Cuckoo further out on the crag. Earlier this morning Mary had been out walking her dogs down at Portnahaven, close to the hall, Mary heard a Grasshopper Warbler and along the verges of the road she saw a Sedge Warbler feeding.

Saturday 9th June

Michal kindly sent through this image of a Razorbill which he took earlier on this week. He was commenting that there appear to be not so many Razorbills on nest sites this year. This was also commented to me by Chris and Tony Johnson that Razorbill numbers have been on the decline over the last few years. Fulmar numbers are down too, but on the other hand, we appear to have more Wheatears, Blackcaps and Cuckoos around. The weather has not been too bad, it was misty first thing this morning but it burnt off and we had quite a nice afternoon, but now early evening, the mist has rolled back in from the sea, at least it has stayed dry!!

Sat 8th May

Yesterday while out round Loch Gorm, we noticed 2 Ravens being chased off by a couple of Curlew, on checking this out with the binoculars, we thought that one of the Ravens was flying off with an egg in it's beak. On a different tack yesterday, at home in the evening was a Buzzard getting mobbed by 10 Jackdaws, what was up with them I was not sure!

Yesterday George had heard a Cuckoo at Foreland, and seen a few Golden Plover down there too. From his house he had seen an Oystercatcher with 3 young. Today, George had heard a Cuckoo at home, while over Loch Indaal he had seen some Common Terns and 4 Razorbill on Loch Indaal.

Wed 17th March

Visiting birders from Orkney had seen the Little egret in front of the hide at RSPB Gruinart on Monday, as well as a Greenshank, 20 Pintail and 10 Shoveler. Over the top of Loch Gruinart they had a Peregrine and also Buzzard fly past. Waders at the top of Loch Indaal included 38 Bar tailed Godwit, 20 Dunlin and 30 Eider. They also had 2 Great Northern Diver down beside Port Charlotte lighthouse. Yesterday, they had 13 Pale bellied Brent Geese near to the coal yard on Loch Indaal, down on the Oa they seen a lot of Skylark and also Twite. Over at Claggain Bay, Razorbill and Red throated Diver were present. Between Port Ellen and Kildalton they had seen 4-5 pairs of Buzzard.

Other visitors, this time from Norfolk had seen 2 separate lesser Canada Geese, hutchinsii and a male Hen Harrier on the Gruinart flats, a pair of Stonechats up towards Ardnave, and a male Merlin up there too. On the Ballinaby side of Loch Gorm they had seen a female Merlin and at Rockside a Female Stonechat.

Fri 4th Sept

For once, at least we can crow about having some better weather, with the farmers here playing catch up with their combines out in the barley fields, and others taking the chance to make a late cut of silage. Not like the folk in the North East of Scotland who have had up to a months' rain in 24 hours, with flooding and damage on top it all.

George had around 50 Razorbills offshore in Loch Indaal this morning, as large a number as he can recollect, there were also a few Gannets fishing there too.

Fri 24th April

Remember the Twite that James saw last weekend with coloured rings on it's left leg? Well, as predicted by James, the bird had been rung in Lancashire, back in early 2003 at a site at Cant Clough, this latter piece of the jigsaw came through from Chris and Tony Johnson who regularly visit Islay and contribute to the blog when they are here. Thanks for your info folks.

Back here at home, today on the feeders, and a new tick for the year, a male Siskin! There were 3 House Martin swooping over the pools down at Carnain this afternoon. James had heard his first Corncrake of the year over at Gruinart this morning. George had seen a Grey seal trying to eat a fish about 14" long, in Loch Indaal, again this morning, it did succeed in the end. He also had seen an Otter out in the Loch too, while on the pier at Bruichladdich there were 6 Razorbill. IKB, JRH & GJ

Sat 28th March

We have waited patiently since the end of November, for this day to arrive. Yes, the Woodpecker has finally given in and twigged that there is food to be had in the feeders. The other great bonus is the trees are not getting decimated now! The bird itself appears completely unaware of our presence as we sat for almost an hour in the van, which acted as a hide!

James had been down at Bruichladdich today, and had seen 6 Purple Sandpipers on the shoreline while out on Loch Indaal itself there were 4 Razorbills, 4 Red throated Divers in summer plumage and lots of Great Northern Divers. JRH

Wed 18th Feb

Another image through from Michal tonight, taken today when he was over on Jura. What can one say?

George has been on the phone to say that he had 80 Greylags and a Pinkfooted Goose in his fields today, while out on Loch Indaal he had 20 Wigeon, a Great Northern diver and yesterday, there were 2 Razorbill. GJ

Another visiting birder had been in touch with his list from today, consisting of 26 Snow Bunting at Ardnave, 37 Whoopers , 40 Goldeneye on Loch Skerrols, over 50 Ravens up between Storakaig and Barr while on Loch Indaal there were 13 Long tailed Ducks and 5 Slavonian Grebe. On his way home he had a flock of 50 Redwing at Rock Mountain.

Mon 5th May

Some sightings from through the weekend to get you all started...
George had 30 Whimbrel down at Wester Ellister on Saturday, and heard a Cuckoo at Portnahaven also on Saturday. There was a Great Northern Diver as well as a Razorbill just off thwe pier at Bruichladdich this morning. GJ
Michael Coppleston, who works with RSPB here on Islay had a reported sighting of a Swift over Ardnave Point on Saturday by a visiting birder.
Dave Sexton, the Mull Officer for RSPB, sent me an e mail today with details of the White tailed Sea Eagle that Donald James MacPhee had seen at the end of March. The bird had yellow wing tags, with the letter P on them. Dave confirmed that it was indeed a Mull bird born in 2006, with a bit of history behind it! He (yellow P) and his brother yellow G fell out of their nest when it was blown off the cliff face one night in a gale when they were about 7 weeks old. They fell about 80 feet to the ground, though probably glided a bit, as they could not fly. Luckily a visitor had been watching them in the nest the previous day before the storm, and checked the next day to see that the nest had gone. Dave checked and found the 2 chicks on the ground, looking rather wet and bedraggled. One of the chicks was actually standing under a small waterfall and was very hypothermic, but otherwise they seemed uninjured. A team of RSPB, police and volunteers quickly dried them off, warmed them up and built them a new nest. When Dave and his team felt the chicks were recovered enough, they were placed in their new nest with a supply of food to get them going.
The new nest site was watched from afar for the next few weeks with the adult birds feeding the young, with the youngsters fledging naturally. Obviously, yellow P was seen here on Islay back in March, while yellow G, his brother was seen on Mull during this winter, so they are both surviving yet
Many thanks to Dave for this information and the tale of it falling out of nest.

Tues 8th April

Quite a lot to report tonight, so here goes...

George phoned in today to say that he had a Green Sandpiper down at Bruichladdich, the first for this year, while off the pier at Bruichladdich on Loch Indaal he had 3 Razorbill and on the shoreline a pair of Shelduck, are they looking for a nest site? GJ

Andy had 12 Slavonian Grebe in summer plumage and 20 Great Northern Diver between Bowmore and Bruichladdich on Loch Indaal itself. There were also a small group of 8 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Blackrock, possibly the first of them starting to move through. RAS

Mick Durham saw a first summer male King Eider, in a group of 20 Eider on the Sound of Islay, and another visiting birder contacted me to say that he had the Green winged Teal over at Loch Gruinart reserve on Sunday.

Here at home there was Buzzard sightings, one of a pair mating while earlier on today the Raven came off it's nest and defended its territory, chasing the Buzzard away! Michal has sent me in a survey that he carried out, but I will give you his figures tomorrow.

Tues 1st April

Yes, it's that time again, as we have the latest figures in from Margaret and Tracey at SNH

for the latest Goose Counts. The International Count held on 18/19 March gave totals of 44,961 Barnacle Geese and 7,086 Greenland Whitefronts. The following count on the 27/28 March were 44,730 Barnies and 6,941 Whitefronts. We only have one Goose Count left and this takes place next week. Thanks again to the team for the figures.

In between the squally showers today, Andy had 4 Slavonian Grebe in full summer plumage in Loch Indaal and also 30 Razorbill. On the weather forecast this evening, it was stated that here on Islay we had the strongest wind speed for the whole of Scotland today, with a speed of 57mph recorded at the Airport. RAS