Monday 28 Feb

 

Last day of February and the first day of the meteorological Spring comes tomorrow.  It is very spring-like with pairs of mallards visible in the nearby lochs of Claddach and Ellister, pairs of birds courting such as 2 chough in sync over Port Wemyss this morning and the local pair of raven at Claddach; oystercatchers and lapwing back in territory; skylarks singing at Claddach and the Oa; and Margaret reported a lot of frogs and spawn in the ponds at Kilchoman.  The weather next week finally looks settled, here's hoping a bigger gap to the next gale.

Chris Mills has had an eventful day, the highlights as follows:

Purple sandpiper at Port Ellen shoreline, plus 10 great northern diver in the bay.  2 adult WTE seen on the drive there.   At Kinnabus on the Oa, 2 golden eagle and nearby a lesser black back gull seen among the herring gulls. At Kilchoman later he enjoyed a view of 2 WTE being moved by a peregrine, then a sparrowhawk hunting nearby.  In the dunes 12 chough and a displaying pair of ravens.  Driving back from Kilchoman to Bowmore this evening, 2 barn owl and 2 woodcock. The first of the barn owl seen perched on a gravestone at the old Kirk.

Kathy reported an adult WTE in the Ardbeg area, and Mike located the red-breasted goose near Coullabus. 

Todays photos are more from local enthusiast Billy Stitchell, of the Caol Ila black guillemots and a great Northern Diver in yesterdays choppy waters.

Thanks to all for your sightings. 

Weds 23 Feb

 An other day, an other gale.  A few more waders about down the Rhinns - at Port A Rheidhlinn, Claddach, were around 20 redshank in a flock.  Further up the hill were one or two lapwing and a flock of 10 curlew, with an other similar sized flock at Craigfad.  At Currie Sands were 4 skylark near the house.

Will was out and about with his reported highlights 3 GN Diver Kilnaughton Bay and 1 Loch Indaal, 2 male Bullfinch Bridgend Woods.  Male Hen Harrier near Port Ellen.  Male Hen Harrier, 900 Golden Plover, 100 Dunlin, 2 Little Egret, 20 Fieldfare RSPB Loch Gruinart. Also 86 Pintail on the eastern edge of Loch Gruinart. 

Margaret reported a ring-tailed hen harrier over the "Kilchoman Reserve".

To add some colour to todays post, some images from Billy Stitchell taken a couple of days ago in the sunshine.

Friday10th April

Yesterday Mary Redman had seen her first Swallow of the year flying across the bay down at Portnahaven. Also yesterday in the early evening, Mary counted over 100 Redwing flying past, up behind the village.

Mandy has also sent some sightings seen by herself
"Tuesday, at dusk 200 white fronts and 300 barnies flying towards Loch Gruinart, then on Wednesday at dusk 50 white fronts, then last night nothing (apart from the usual 20 or so greylags in the fields).

Yesterday and the day before a calling chough flew over.

Last week, there was a flock of around 50 skylarks at the top of the track, some dust bathing.

Last night, I heard a mistle thrush singing at dusk."

Gary sent me through some birds seen and heard by him

"Willow Warblers arrived last night, loads singing today, male Hen Harrier quartering over the moorland behind house, Greenfinch, Chaffinch & Goldfinch at the big bird table." 

David Barr who before was called Distillery Dave, but now living in  Lochearnhead reported in this evening with some birds..

"Rock Pipits , Kestrel and Wheatear, all seen while out for his walk (with Ted and Ella, his dogs) in Glen Kendrum."

Wednesday 4th March

Marsali has kindly sent me though her rainfall tallies for January and also for February from over at Mulindry..."The rainfall for January was 115mms or 4.6” and for February 235mms or 9.4”   The paper we get said that it was the wettest February since records began but we had a wetter February in 2014.   I think it depends on where you live and how much water actually reaches the gauge".
The rain gauge at Matt Jackson's house at Rockside road end came to 6.35 inches for February !!!.

The Rochdale birders had sent some sightings through from Monday and Tuesday..
"On Monday, we went to Claggain Bay .  Black throated and Great northern Divers. Good view of male Peregrine, on a wall at Leorin on the High Road. Adult and juvenile Golden Eagle at Cladville on the Rhinns. On Tuesday, at Storakaig... 3 Golden Eagles together over the hills, with a male Hen Harrier quartering its patch. Down at Finlaggan, 4 Crossbills were present.

Mark Shields commented on the following today

"A nice day on Islay for the first time in a long time. The flats at Gruinart are suddenly full of frisky lapwings! Also around the reserve…436 Dunlin, Greenshank, 4 Sanderling, 109 Skylark and a single Sparrowhawk" 

Thursday 7th March

Today over at Gruinart, James had sen his first Lesser Black backed Gull of this "Spring". Also on the reserve, he had 2 good flocks of Skylarks, one with 98 birds and the other with 64.

Tuesday 26th February

My good friend Armin sent me through an e mail the other day about a couple of Barnacle geese that are overwintering on Berneray this winter. "Normally" these birds should have been down on Islay. Steve Percival caught and fitted darvic leg rings to the 2 geese back in 2017 here on Islay, their leg codes are as follows, ZLN and ZLV.
At the weekend, my son Andrew who lives down in the Scottish Borders had a Sparrowhawk down in  his garden, eating a digestive biscuit, a plain biscuit with no chocolate for this bird....
Yesterday and also today at Gruinart, James had seen a White tailed Eagle harassing the geese. Today, with this great spell of weather, Skylarks have been heard singing away and also James had Lapwings displaying.
In the garden today, there were bees out flying around, butterflies seen out and also some Ladybirds as well.

monday 29th February

It is that time again, the 29th of February, with the entry being    the only one  on this date for another 4years... The weather today, has, well, not been great, with smurry rain falling all day, not great for bird watching for sure, what a difference a day makes, it was almost a Spring day...Mark Holling yesterday had a Golden Eagle over at Bunnahabhain with another 2 seen up at Sanaigmore. At Sanaigmore they also had seen 90 Skylark flying past, Mark wondered could be some birds on passage.. He also had a count of 38 Chough at Machir Bay with 5 Tufties seen on the pool there as well. Ardnave Point, 900 Golden Plover were seen, and down at Bridgend, 2 Dippers were carrying nesting materials.  They also had a Grey Wagtail at Kilchiaran and another in Port Charlotte. Mandy and Fiona had walked out to Knockangle Point where they saw 77 Golden Plover basking on the rocks! They also saw 10 Whoopers flying North along the strand. Other birds on the rocks included 13 Dunlin, 12 Oystercatcher, 3 Ringed Plover. 17 Wigeon were on the water on Loch Indaal while on the shore were 3 Sanderling. Finally over the dunes, 25 Lapwing and a Golden Plover were on the wing. And as it was such a great day, we took ourselves out as well. Round at Ballinaby, in one of the fields were 96 Lapwing and 116 Starlings on the ground, then a Golden Eagle appeared and then round the corner 4 Hooded Crows took off from the rushes, but no sign of what they had been up to....From Gruinart, we went over the hill towards Bridgend and at the side of the road 5 Reed Buntings were seen and then 2 Red legged Partridges were spotted as we came to the road junction at Carnain. Over at Loch Tallant, past Cruach towards Red Lodge on the high road, a Cormorant flew overhead. Ballygrant Quarry, a couple of Collared Doves were on the roadside and finally, on the sheep carcase at smelly corner, the Glaucous Gull was present.

Sunday 21st September

Yesterday afternoon, over on the flats on the reserve at Gruinart, we saw a Buzzard tucking into the remnants of a goose.. there was a flock of over 80 Golden Plover in the air there at the same time. Returning visitors, David and Jenny from Staffordshire came over on the ferry yesterday seeing 2 BTD, 6 RTD, 11 GND and a Slavonian Grebe, not the best of days with the weather yesterday for being out on the deck... Up at Sanaig today, the Rochdale birders had a flock of 50 Skylarks and also 4 Fieldfares. Down close to Rock mountain, they saw a female Merlin and down at Cladville, Portnahaven a male Hen Harrier was present. Here at home this morning, the Raven dropped in to see what was on the ground for breakfast, and obviously does not like an old cheese roll, perhaps it was the home baking that was being looked for!!!  

Thursday 5th March

Forgot to say last night that I spotted a solitary Fulmar soaring along the front of the crag yesterday morning, hopefully a single Fulmar does not indicate that we are due for some more stormy weather.... Chris and John had seen 20 Common Scoters along with 9 Long tailed Ducks and 3 Slavonian Grebes on Loch Indaal. Close to the pheasant feeders at Loch Skerrols, Chris saw a flock of 10 Yellowhammers. Along at The Woollen Mill, they had a Golden Eagle fly past with a Dipper on the River Sorn, a Bullfinch and a Great Spttted Woodpecker were also present nearby. Along over the hills towards Balimartin, another Golden Eagle was seen. The best of the day came up towards Bunahabhain with 3 distant Golden Eagles seen over Jura, and also a pair displaying over Islay. Then a pair of White tailed Sea Eagles flew from Jura over over to Islay, with one overflying where they were parked up! They also saw 2 Peregrines over the Sound of Islay with an Otter down in the Sound of Islay itself. Finally back at Ballinaby, they had a flock of 80 Twite and another flock of around 200 Skylarks which needless to say caught the attention of a Sparrowhawk. Today, at lunchtime I had a count of around 100 Skylarks down at Sunderland Farm.

Sunday 1st March

I will put you all out of your misery and tell what the rain guage claimed the rainfall came to for February... it only came to 4.4" a bit drier than last year when we had 7.2", enough said!! On Friday, Mary had seen 60 Chough, 6 Ravens and 3 Skylarks up at Ardnave. Round Ardnave Point, Mary had 34 Oystercatcher, 27 Sanderling, 4 Turnstone, 23 Common Gull, 13 Herring Gull and 19 Ringed Plover. Nearby 2 Skylarks were heard singing, is Spring round the corner?? Back closer to the steading, a Merlin put up a mixed flock of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks. At the same location, high above there were 3 flocks of Lapwings flying, there were 60, 150 and another 100 in each. Peter Roberts had a "drift" of 5 Snow Buntings yesterday over on the Big Strand, down below the airport. Visiting birders Chris Mills and John Hopper had seen a 1st winter Iceland Gull flying West from the ferry as they came over yesterday. Other birds seen off the ferry were 4 Slav. Grebes, 2 BTD, 42 GND, 20 Black Guillemot, 25 RB Merganser, 13 Razorbill with a Greenshank seen at Kennacraig. Here on Islay, between Coastguards and Coull, there saw 2 different flocks of Skylarks of 100 and 200 birds in each flock, round at Saligo, a flock of 60 Twite were present. James yesterday had a LBB Gull on the reserve at Gruinart. Today, Pat and Angie from E. Yorkshire had seen a Glaucous Gull at the head of Loch Indaal where the River Sorn enters the loch. At Ballinaby they had a male Hen Harrier along with a large flock of Twite.

Friday 20th February

Another mixed day with the weather again, but in between showers Margaret and myself managed to fit in a couple of beaches in the Beach bird survey. We had a look along the high water mark for any casualties/ dead corpses of any birds at Saligo and later on up at Sanaigmore. The good news was that we found nothing! On our way up to Sanaigmore, we saw a Golden Eagle being mobbed by a Buzzard, with a further 2 Buzzards and a Merlin as we headed along the road. At Sanaig, on the beach, there were 42 Oystercatchers. The Rochdale birders had a count of 410 Skylarks in a field at Sunderland .Albert Percival had seen Purple Sandpipers and Golden Plovers at Bruichladdich and more Golden Plovers at Ardnave. Mick saw a Peregrine through the patio doors of his cottage at breakfast time, "can't start a day better than that" Mick's own words... Up at Sanaig, he saw 3 Otters swimming together in the bay, further out he had 2 Gannets while back on shore he saw a Turnstone. Back inland he had 2 Chough, some Redwings and Fieldfares there as well. Back down beside Loch Gorm Mick had a male Hen harrier. Over from the Glen road he spotted a Golden Eagle. Down at Uiskentuie, the juv. Glaucous gull was still present as was the Brambling here at home. Finally, last Saturday, Alistair Hutchison had 6 Yellowhammers over at the back of Port Askaig.

Thursday 19th February

A mixed sort of a day with the weather, but certainly not a heat wave... The Rochdale birders on their travels today had seen a female Sparrowhawk and a cracking male Hen Harrier on their way round Loch Gorm. Down at Bruichladdich, they had a count of 71 Curlew and on the shore there were 11 Purple Sandpipers. Mick Hemingway had seen a great sighting of an Otter on the Sound of Islay and later on, some Black Guillemots up at Bunnahabhain. He also saw a juv. Iceland Gull in the fields between Bridgend and Ballygrant. The juv. Glaucous Gull was still present along the head of Loch Indaal. Out on Loch Indaal itself, Mick saw a Slavonian Grebe. The Hampshire birders had seen a Golden Eagle over the hills as they went along the Glen road. They also had a Sparrowhawk there as well, with a Skylark feeding on the roadside. While they were out walking they spotted an Adder sunning itself on the heather... Over at Ardnave Loch around midday, we had Mute Swans, Whoopers, Teal, Mallard, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Redshank and Oystercatcher, not sure of a right count as the loch was rather choppy... On the way down the road, there was a flock of around 40 Skylarks in a field just after we came over the cattle grid from Ardnave. Earlier on this morning, here at home, Margaret saw the Brambling out feeding, a Wren on the dyke with 7 Fulmars seen over on the crag.

Sunday 4th January

A bit cooler today compared to yesterday that is, but possibly a bit of wind chill factor comes in to the equation as well... Here at home this morning the Sparrowhawk flew in and spoofed the birds in the garden , it "crashed" into one of the bushes hoping to get a wee bird but no joy there and left without anything! James had some birds on the reserve at Gruinart including 2 Greenshank, 500 Lapwing which were in 2 counted groups of 140 and 360. There were 535 Golden Plover together with a Grey Plover amongst them. He also saw 2 Woodcock and counted 35 Skylarks.

Tuesday 11th March

Another great day out on Islay, managed to carry out a good deal of outside in the garden as inside work was ruled out due to a planned power outage by our electric company as they connected a new 3 phase supply up to Rockside. Mary had seen a flock of 25 Meadow Pipits down behind the church at Portnahaven. She was also saying that the Chough down at Portnahaven have been more active of late. Back on Friday Mary, had counted 230 Skylarks together close to Grainel. Visiting birder, Ian from Herts has struck it lucky with his first visit to Isay. Not only the weather has been great, but he saw a Golden Eagle down on the Oa, a male Hen Harrier beside the low road between Port Ellen and Bowmore and the up at Kilchoman this afternoon great sighting of the local Choughs.

Monday 25th February

Visitors yesterday had seen a male Goosander on the River Sorn. Up at Bunnahabhain they saw a Dabchick out on the sea feeding. They wondered if it was out on the sea as the freshwater lochs could have been frozen over? Phil and Cath had been down on the Oa today. A Peregrine Falcon was seen, some Fulmars were on the cliifs with a 6 Gannets flying past. Later on, they counted a flock of 50 Skylarks. This afternoon, up towards Loch Skerrols they saw a Grey Wagtail and down on the River Sorn, a Dipper was added to their list.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday evening, it time for the "Islay bird nerds" monthly meeting. We will be meeting in the ICCI or Gaelic Centre just outside Bowmore at 7.30pm. We hope to have some Owl pellets to have a look at, and Peter is going to be talking about a proposed "nerds visit" to Spain. So if you are over here on Islay, come along...We are holding the meeting there so that the folk from the Port Ellen end do not have so far to travel, a bit more central.

Thursday 14th February

The temperature out here almost got in to double figures today, even had my jersey off  for a while this afternoon...Bob heard a Skylark singing away over beside where he lives. He also had seen a Golden Eagle out over the forestry behind Octomore, a male Hen Harrier as well as a Woodcock and a Short eared Owl. This morning, we had a Golden Eagle sitting on a straining post as we headed down towards Sunderland. As we got closer it took off and it was great to see one so close, no mistaking it, might even have been the same one that Bob saw, not that far over the hill! Coming home over at the road end to Culbuie, there were a pair of Stonechats and back at home there were around a dozen Fulmars soaring around along the front of the crag. Earlier on in the week, Michal and Nat along with the vols at RSPB carried out a count on Loch Gruinart. Highlight was a Glaucous Gull, other birds seen were 383 Shelduck, 181 Wigeon, 59 Pintail, 222 Oysterctcher, 600 Golden Plover, 78 Lapwing, 80 Sanderling, 89 Dunlin, 97 Barwits, 190 Curlew and 55 Redshank. Nat had 5 Heron, 8 Goldeneye, 10 Whoopers, 17 Wigeon and 205 Teal all on Ardnave Loch.

Sunday 4th March

A bit cooler over here today, with the hills over on Mull wearing white caps, here on Islay there has been the odd shower of hailstones, and I heard that the gritters were out on the roads this morning!

Dave & Jenny have moved to stay down close to Port Ellen for their last few days. Yesterday at Claggain Bay they had a Golden Plover, Shelduck and a Great Northern Diver, along at Kildalton Cross, they had around 25 Skylark and a Sparrowhawk, and where they are staying on the road out to the Oa, plenty of Chaffinches are around. They still have not seen a Yellowhammer yet, but there is still time yet...Dave Pitman who was over last week with some birders from Lancs and who was at the "bird nerds" back on Tuesday e mailed through having had a good time. From the ferry coming over, they had 65 Great Northern Diver, 12 Red throated Diver, a White tailed Sea Eagle as well as a Golden Eagle, I was not sure whether they saw the Eagles over Jura or Islay! During their stay they had numerous white winged gulls on their travels around Islay and the Magpie at Ardbeg! On Loch Indaal from Bowmore they had 4 Long tailed Duck and 50 Common Scoter.

Sunday 13th March
Another wet day here again, it has rained all day, although not heavily.... Mind you the ground is saturated, with pools appearing all over the place.
James was over this afternoon with some sightings from the past few days on the reserve at Gruinart. On Friday, he had an Otter and 9 Whooper Swans while out working on the sluices. Yesterday there was a Golden Eagle, a male Hen Harrier and 70 Skylark. Today, a Merlin, a Sparrowhawk, a female Hen Harrier and the Canada Goose hutchinsii sp

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.

Tues 9th March

Thinking back to last Friday, the day I took the image on last night's entry, well if I remember correctly was the first time this year that I had heard a Skylark singing and since than I have seen a few Lapwings displaying too. Certainly the birds in the wood here at home have been more vocal too! Also on Friday, there were 13 Whooper Swan on Loch Gorm.

The sky outside tonight is full of stars, no light pollution out here!