Wednesday 18th September

Some sun today, but still cold. Mary was out at Gruinart and noticed a fall of Skylarks and meadow pipits. The 8 Barnacle geese were still present although most of the Brents have moved on. 2 Ring tailed Hen Harriers hunting over the Flats.

Sunday 8th September

A different day again, no rain to speak off and better still I managed to get some grass cut... Yesterday, Carl had 5 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Blackrock on Loch Indaal. Today, Bob had "lots" of Skylarks flying high on migration above his house. Across the road at the waterworks, in the willow bushes, there were Willow Warblers and also juv Great Tits. A regular visitor to his garden, on almost a daily basis is a female Sparrowhawk. Up on Bolsay moor, Bob saw 2 young Sparrowhawks having a bit of a tussle at each other, no doubt a family dispute...

Saturday 29th September

Michael Giles sent some more sightings through for us from yesterday. On Loch Indaal Michael had 18 Pale bellied Brent geese and 40 Wigeon present too. Up at Gruinart in the afternoon, the tally was as follows, 1 Black tailed Godwit, 60 Greylags, 1 Peregrine , 1 ringtail Hen Harrier, 1 Little Grebe, 30 Teal, 200 Wigeon, 3 Whooper Swan, 20 Lapwing, other ducks noted were Scaup, Pintail and Shovelor. Bob had a strong passage of Skylarks yesterday over his house from first light through to around 17.30 averaging around 100 birds per hour. Tom and Jo yesterday at Blackrock had 2 Slavonian Grebe and 5 Red throated Diver. Over at Carnain ("smelly corner") were 9 Pale bellied Brents and off Bowmore they counted 25 Scaup, 55 Common Scoter and 1 Whooper. Up here today we had 6 Whoopers flying from Rockside out to the Machir Bay and onwards towards Ireland...It's great when visitors feed in their sightings to the blog, to give everyone a chance to read what is on Islay at present, thanks to you all.....

Saturday 10th March

Back to almost Spring again today, a nice comment on the weather for a change, and it is possibly here for a week, great! But, first thing this morning, there were some Fulmars out soaring about, back and forward along the front of the crag. Later on, there were some Lapwings displaying away too, out over the Machir. Down at Portnahaven, Mary saw the Snow Bunting at Claddach, it's been there for a while now. Further round by Claddach Loch, the Skylarks were in display flight and singing away. There were a few more small groups feeding the nearby fields as well. While driving into Bowmore, Mary and Crystal had a Glaucous Gull feeding in a field along with 2 Herring Gulls. Finally, they had 2 Golden Eagles up the North west coast of Islay.

Wednesday 23rd November

Rather a miserable day out here today with plenty of rain, the wind through the night was quite strong too, may be the Fulmars are not that stupid coming in a few days before the wind picks up...Not really a day for going out birding... Bob had a Kestrel out hunting over the moor beside his house today, and he noticed Redwings and Skylarks flying South down the Rhinns of Islay. I was reading an old Birds magazine from 1966 last night and in it there was an article on the Loch Garten Ospreys and saying that all 3 eggs had been blown out of the eyrie in April in "an unusually severe gale that swept north- east Scotland in April" of that year. Another eyrie had its' single egg blown out too, and both nests were damaged. I wonder what numbers overall were lost in the winds that were here at the end of May this year.

Monday 7th March

Catherine phoned in some sightings seen down on the Oa this past week, Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Golden Eagle, 2 Buzzards, 8 Chough, 156 Twite, 54 Rock Dove, 149 Starling, 286 Greenland Whitefronts, 3 Goldeneye, 13 Tufted Duck, 80 Fulmar 4 Raven, and the Tree Sparrow. A good cross section to get one going...

A visiting birder gave me through a few of his sightings over the past few days, 100 Gannets off Portnahaven, 20 Lesser Black Backed Gulls on the flats at Bridgend, at Killinallan 45 Skylarks and 180 Twite. Ardnave Loch, the other day had 28 Whooper Swan and 3 Mutes. This afternoon on Loch Gorm, there were 30 Tufted Duck and 5 male Pochard. Coming over on the ferry on Saturday 26th February, he had seen a Mediterranean Gull. If I remember correctly he has seen 117 species so far....Still time for a few more....