Saturday 29th May

Yet another top class sort of a day, with the weather that is, mind you not a lot to complain about with the birds seen...

Up here at home, we spent some time out seeing the birds on offer out in the garden and round about as well... it was great to see a pair of Stonechats out flitting around as they do, a Wheatear was seen out on the big lawn looking for some food, a Wren came out of the "hedge", making a brief appearance. On the corvid front, we saw the Ravens out flying around, watched the acrobatic Choughs as they noisily flew around, and also a few Jackdaws present as well, more Swallows have been seen today, but still no sign of any nest building activity as of yet.

Monday 4th May

Lesley tonight sent me through the following sightings of some birds

" Rather late but on Saturday, I saw my first (4) House Martins for the year also a pair of Gannets close into the shore doing a fly past. Plus Common  Sandpiper again, I always forget just how wee they are.

Today my walk was very noisy. Warblers competing with Sedge coming in first, Willow close behind and Grasshopper a poor third. Then there were the Stonechats, dapper Reed Buntings, Skylarks and even Redpoll. All with the ubiquitous Cuckoos and cronking Ravens."

 

I was Speaking to Distillery Dave this evening, and he was telling me about seeing an Osprey on Loch Earn the other day. Today, he had seen the Green woodpecker as well as 4 different Jays and also a striking male Bullfinch as well as a pair of Greenfinch....

Saturday 2nd May

 God friend Marsali fromov at Mulindry sent me through her tally from her rain gauge...The rainfall for April here was 19mms or 0.76 inch, the driest for many years but still damper than Kilchoman. See these folk that live up in the rain shadow of the hills....

Oops, I almost forgot our rainfall figures from up here at Shepherd's cottage  to just below 0.5  of an inch. James's tally for the month came to a mere 12mm, so very similar to us at Shepherd's cottage. 

Birds seen today by James included a Whitethroat, Gropper, Cuckoo, Whinchat, and male HH all from between office and Mill cottage.

Mandy e mailed through last night,
"Just found this light blue egg shell on the track - Starling I think. Lots of Linnet on my walk just now, ie a flock of 9 and others along the road. Also Sedge Warbler, Willow Warblers, Mipits etc and a stunning male Stonechat with the female nearby."

Saturday 15th February

Gary and Wendy enjoyed the better weather yesterday, and walked up to Loch Cam behind Scarrabus. Their  sightings yesterday were: Carnain: Barnies, Shelduck, Blackbird, Mute Swan

Walk up to Loch Cam: Buzzard, pair of Stonechat, Song Thrush, Chough, Whitefronts,  Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Bowmore: Wigeon,  Eider 

James returned over to Islay on the ferry , quite a rough crossing by the sound of things,but top birds seen for James were 3 White tailed Eagles seen together when the ferry was coming up the Sound of Islay. Today, he had spotted a Pink footed goose on the reserve at Gruinart.

The Port Ellen 4 are back again - they were here last February, arriving on Thursday

"Had a great 1st day of birding, on Friday.

2 Golden Eagles  - 1 over Dun Nosebridge and 1 in the Storakaig area

2 male Hen Harriers - 1 near & over Loch Eighinn (nr airport). 1 at Grainel Farm.

Long tailed duck, G. N. D., Slavonian Grebe, Common Scoter, Goldeneye, Eider, Rock Pipit & R. b. Mergansers - all close from Bowmore Pier.

Scaup, Shelduck, Redshank, Ringed Plover + some of above from the Gaelic centre.

Bullfinch, Coal Tit, Song & Mistle Thrush, Grey Wagtail & Robin from Bridgend woods.

Obviously White fronts, Greylags & Barnies  with Raven, Jackdaw, Rook, Buzzards & Hoodies in various places."  

The wind has been blowing away all day with ferry not coming over, until mid afternoon, quite glad that we were not on it... The wind speed topped at 65 mph on Dr Matt's weather station at 9.30 am. The plane flew in this morning, no bother....   

Thursday 3rd October

This morning, Gary had seen 8 Pale bellied Brent geese down at the mouth of the wee stream  which leads into Loch Indaal as you drive into Bowmore. Round at Ballinaby, we had seen 6 Barnies resting up in the middle of a large number of Greylags. We also saw 3 different Stonechats while driving along. We saw a Hen Harrier out on the wing below Carnduncan. Coming back, we had a Heron take off close to us below Leek, it took off  out from the roadside ditch. Margaret , this afternoon up here at home, watched as 3 Buzzards were getting mobbed by a large group of Hooded Crows on the ground. they did  manage to take off and headed up to the crag, only to be joined, sitting up there by a Peregrine. Mandy today had seen 20 Whoopers along below Sunderland with some young cygnets, amongst them. There were also 2 of the adults having a sleep after their flight down...

Friday 16th August

George E Jackson sent some sightings from through the week...

Coming back home on Tuesday evening, they had seen a Barn Owl between Sunderland Farm and Rockside. On Wednesday morning down on Machir bay, 7 Greylags were seen, but George also commented on the amount of Goose footprints seen up the Coull end (North end) seen there over the past few days.. Other birds seen there included 5 Chough, as well as 15 Ringed Plovers. On the fence along the edge of the dunes around 40 Linnets were counted with 15 Sand Martins out feeding. A Stonechat was seen there as well. Up in the reed bed, a Sedge Warbler was present. In the afternoon, over at Finlaggan, they had a family group of 4 Stonechats and then separately, another 2 Stonechats. Also, sitting on a fence post in at Finlaggan was a Buzzard. Yesterday, they had gone over to Jura, up from Craighouse and before Ardlussa, they had 5 pair of Mute Swans seen, none of which appeared to have any youngsters... From the ferry coming back from Feolin they had seen an Otter, in the middle of the Sound of Islay.

Today, Richard Williams and his wife came and visited for a well earned cuppa and catch up, great when visitors throw their sightings at me for to use on the blog... It has been their first visit to Islay and by the way they both spoke, it will not be their last, just spread the words around folks...

Wednesday 12th July

Another great day again, all day although there was a low hiugging mist which hid Loch Gorm at first light... I saw it at the back of 5am and got up and watched the day roll in, quite a spetacle watching the mist rolling away. They said on the weather forecast this evening that Islay was one of the coldest places in Scotland last night, down to a mere 5 degrees... so I managed to get some snaps of the morning..

Looking over to Rockside Farm and the old Pagoda on the right, with the new Pagoda surrounded by scaffold in the centre, with the mist shrouding Loch Gorm, a great sight...

Back to birds, there was a House Sparrow on the wooden fence beside the garage.. a Fulmar out on the wing, one of the few remaining Fulmars nesting here now on the crag. There were over 30 pairs nesting when we came here back in 2000, now only 3 pairs are there... Along the barbed wire fence, a Willow Warbler was out as well, with a Stonechat on a fence post. Along the march fence, a family of Linnets kept floating back and forward between the top wire and then down over on to the seed heads. Out on the Machir, a Hare was having a tidy up. And that was all seen by 6am, well worth getting up for, honest!!!

Wenesday 12th October

Robin Harvey from Benderloch, out of Oban has spent 3 days over here on Islay, a very productive visit by the sound of things according to Robin's correspondence to Jim Dickson and myself. His highlights included a female Goldeneye on Ardnave Loch, 38 Barwits and 18 Dunlin at Gartmain, 70 Rock Doves at Carn, Port Charlotte. He noted seeing "lots of Stonechats " on his way round the Rhinns, more than he has ever seen before! On the walk on the Oa with Dave Maynard, 3 Wheatear were seen together, on the way back to Port Ellen, more Stonechats were seen as was a fine male Blackcap. Finally up the East side of Gruinart, Robin saw 40 Barwit, 66 Curlew, 6 Redshank, 17 Ringed Plover, 6 Grey Plover, at least 20 Dunlin, around 80 Oystercatcher, 23 Turnstone. A great list of sightings, thanks Robin. Ian Mears from Hampshire also headed off home yesterday but had a couple of Golden Eagle out over Bunnahabhain and finally 50 Redwing down at the Lily Loch out of Port Askaig. Back on Monday Rob McNab from Linlithgow had seen Chough, a large flock of Twite and also a Golden Eagle while down on the Oa. Yesterday, Nicholas Watts from Vine House Farm in Lincolnshire had seen a Red backed Shrike as he drove up towards Sanaigmore, the bird being seen just after Coille.. Nicholas is a farmer himself and has diversified into selling bird foods, and since doing this, has now donated over £1 million to the causes of the  Wildlife Trust projects over the years. Gary and Wendy, the original Hampshire Birders, today had taken a run round the Rhinns, seeing Snipe, Merlin, Wheatear and also lots of Stonechats. Over Octomore Hill, they saw 2 Golden Eagle out soaring on the thermals. Today Gary and Bob went out to see if they could find Nicholas's Shrike, no joy, but they did see a juv Golden Eagle and also a juv White tailed Eagle and again lots of Stonechats! Earlier on Gary himself had seen Dunlin, Ringed Plover, 10 Grey Plover out from Whin Park with the Peregrine making a pest of itself again!!! Today Rob McNab had a female Snow Bunting on the machir up at Sanaigmore. Today, the Bowland birders had seen 11 Pale bellied Brent  beside Blackrock with 15 Scaup and 4 Pintail out on Loch Indaal. Loch Tallant held 12 Teal and also 2 Mallard while a walk up the River Sorn produced Grey Wagtail, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Great spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Goldcrest.

Sunday 10th July

Yesterday evening a quick run round Loch Gorm provided not a lot but there were some  young Stonechats along the way, and round at Leek, a Hen Harrier was seen, and while we approached Loch Skerrols,  a Sparrowhawk flew across in front of us and on Loch Skerrols a pair of Mute Swans were present with their 4 cygnets. Here at home, late afternoon today the sun was shining so a wee look over the game crop was quite productive, with young Stonechats spotted, young fledged Garden Warblers seen on the hemlock, fledged Goldfinches feeding on thistle heads, some Whitethroats were seen too with Barn Swallows swooping down over the pond, a great sight to see, especially seeing as many fledged youngsters, all the effort has been worthwhile!!!!

Saturday 18th June

Gotcha... This noisy Corncrake, caught on camera this morning, out in the nettle patch in the garden. Other birds seen today, included a scruffy looking Peregrine came by this evening to survey all around, sitting on top of the crag! The Hooded crows earlier on, were seen off by some Jackdaws... On the bird table, the pair of Greenfinches were present with their youngster, 5 Goldfinches were present later on with 2 young.  A young Stonechat was on top of the dyke, just close to where the Corncrake had been earlier on.

Monday 14th March

Spring has sprung, what a great day it has been here, well worth the wait... Peter had 32 Whoopers flying North over Bruichladdich this morning, and later on over Loch Gorm, another 19 were seen by Peter, again flying North. Lesley Silcock had seen 5 Long tailed Ducks on Loch Indaal out from Kintra over at Port Ellen. Dave Wood saw the Red necked Grebe on Loch Indaal up at Bowmore at the back of the Lochside Hotel... John Wilson is back over for another Islay fix, great to see you John. He had seen a Golden Eagle, 2 Hen Harrier, 2 Chough and a flock of 63 Twite all on the Oa . To cap it all, we were able to show John 2 Peregrines through the scope, late afternoon,  not a bad day John! We took a quick trip round Loch Gorm and up to Ardnave. There were 12 Stonechats seen in total, with 8 seen by the time we got round to Ballinaby alone! On our way to Ardnave, there were a couple of Golden Eagle out on the wing soaring around. On Ardnave Loch itself, both Mute and a few Whooper Swans were present , 4 Goldeneye and some Tufted Ducks were present.  

Thursday 25th February

Down on the Oa reserve yesterday, Dave saw a juv. White  tailed Eagle being chased off by the resident Golden Eagles. DHe also saw a Merlin and was saying that there is still a flock of around 100 Twite still present. David and Jenny had a flock of 15 Long tailed Tits, a few Reed Buntings and a Yellowhammer out past Ardbeg. Out on Claggain bay, they had a GND. Over Loch Kinnabus they saw a pair of Golden Eagle, also coming back from the Oa, a Kestrel and also a pair of Stonechats were seen on the Oa. Pat and Angie saw a ringtail and also a pair of White tailed Eagles out past Ballygrant. James had a Barn Owl and 3 Hen Harriers at the dusk at Gruinart. This morning, Margaret counted 39 Goldfinches out on the feeders and later on, we saw a Stonechat on a fence at the side of the road close to Coull. Not so many Stonechats have been around of late...Visitors from Mull, David and Felicity Pollard were pleased yesterday afternoon to see some of the Chough out on the wing practising their acrobatic skills out behind Machir Bay...

Saturday 13th February

Forgot to mention that James had seen a Lesser Black backed Gull on the reserve at Gruinart on Thursday.

George and Pat Jackson had seen the Glaucous Gull down at Machir Bay and also there at the big pool alongside the car park were 9 Ringed Plover. Later on they saw a ringtail Hen Harrier on one of the roadside poles up beside their son's house. They also had 9 Reed Bunting flitting between the overhead cable and the neighbour's hen run! Peter and Mike had been over at Claggain Bay yesterday afternoon  and saw an immature Golden Eagle hunting over the fields there before it flew on along the coast, it had been disturbing Oystercatchers and around 20 Golden Plover. Coming back  home along the high road from Port Ellen, they had a male Hen Harrier. Colin and Alison Parnell on Thursday had a flock of 80 Twite while down on the Oa, out over the sea from the monument, 5 Guillemot, 3 Fulmar, a Kittiwake, 4 Gannet were seen, while close to the car park 2 pr of Raven and 2 Chough were present. At Coillabus as they headed back to Port Ellen, a pair of Stonechats and    27 Fieldfare were seen. Here at  home yesterday, we had a new tick for the garden with 2 Ravens down at a dead Hare! In the afternoon, we had 29 Pale bellied Brent, 14 Barnies and 30 Scaup all sheltering in the bay at Blackrock, out from "Cash Kelly's" House. Just as we came into Bowmore, we had a Goldeneye close to the shore. Colin and Alison also saw the birds that we had at Cash Kelly's but they also spotted 24 Common Scoter, a Slavonian Grebe and a GND. On their way up to Bunnahabhain, they saw a White tailed Sea Eagle over the hills past Ballygrant with a Golden Eagle spotted from Bunnahabhain itself. Finally over between Gruinart and Loch Gorm, a Barn Owl was outhunting and also a Woodcock was seen as well

Monday 3rd February

I was speaking this morning to a friend who lives up behind Bridgend who was telling me that their rain guage for January tallied out at 11.2" for last month, see the folk that live up in the hills....Some sightings now for you. The Lochwinnock birders had seen a Sparrowhawk hunting over the gorse bushes at Gartbreck on Saturday and a small flock of 12 Golden Plover down between the Airport and the shore (I forgot to put them on!)Yesterday they had a ringtail Hen Harrier out in front of the hides at Gruinart. They also had a Peregrine out from the old hide. Along at Leck Gruinart they saw 2 Buzzards. Over the reserve, there was a flock of over 700 Golden Plover along with some Dunlin were flying around being chased by another Hen Harrier! Out in front of the hides were 50 Redshank, 50 Shelduck, 6 Pintail, many Shoveler, Teal and Wigeon as well as some Lapwing. They also saw a Stonechat. Also seen were 3 Hares and 5 Roe Deer. Peter had taken a walk out to Ardnave Point, highlights included a Snow Bunting, 2 groups of Twite totalling 40 in all. Between Ardnave Point and Nave Island 6 GND were on the water, while up on the shore on Ardnave Island 70 Grey Seals were parked up. Ardnave Loch held 6 Whoopers a few Tufties, lots of Teal and also 2 Goldeneye. The adjoining fields held a flock of 75 Lapwing. On his way home, Peter had trip down to the old hide at Gruinart where he had 4 Whoopers, lots of Teal,8 Pintail, 16 Shoveler and a ringtail Hen Harrier.

Sunday 17th November

A quiet day with birds here today, all the folk that contributed over the past few days have headed home.... Going over to Gruinart this afternoon we had the usual Buzzard out on the wing. While having a cuppa with James and Sally, a ringtail Hen Harrier flew past and put the Barnies up. Coming home, there were a couple of Stonechat on the gorse close to Coull. Here at home, there were a few Redwings around and in the dyke (wall!) up at Shepherd's cottage a Wren was calling away. Will have to try to educate the birds to come up there to get fed, once we move next year!

Friday 18th February

A late entry, sorry folks but it has been one of the evenings with the phone ringing all the time, James can vouch for that as he was here!

A visitor told me of seeing a Bullfinch in the woods opposite the office at Gruinart, and James was also saying that there have more been seen there this winter than previously.

Another visitor had seen a couple of Siskin down on the feeders at the shop at Bridgend, or Jimmy's as we locals call it! The same folk had seen a Stonechat over at Ballinaby and also a male Hen Harrier round there too.

Wednesday 16th February

The weather was a bit kinder to us today, it almost reached double figures at one time, hovering at a balmy 9 degrees. Here at home, this morning there was a mixed flock of Jackdaws and Chough directly over the house, and Margaret had a count of 16 Chough, there certainly were more Jackdaws, but the Chough were what we wanted!

Over towards Loch Skerrols, a visitor had a flock of 100 Chaffinch , and on Loch Skerrols had a mixed group of 77 Whooper and Mute Swan, they were over the far side of the loch and hard to split off. Later on up at Ardnave he counted 50 Twite in one group. He was also commenting about the lack of Stonechats, something which Carl had been speaking about on Monday!

Sun 21st November

Just a few of the Whooper Swans present just now on Loch Skerrols. There were a few family groups of Mutes there too, but interesting to see larger family size too, whereas the Whoopers had a smaller % of juveniles. This was also noted on one of the lochans beside Loch Gorm with 21 Whoopers there, but only 4 juveniles. In the above image there are only 3 juveniles with 11 adults. As well as the Swans, there were Wigeon and also some Greylag Geese too.

Down on the fir tees near to Avenvogie, some Siskins were seen as well as the odd Stonechat on our way home. There were also a few Fieldfare at Cattadale. Back at home today, the birds on the feeders have been busy, polishing off the food put out for them. This morning in the garden there were 11 Red legged Partridges, probably birds that had been released for shooting!

Fri 12th March

The Swans were still down on Loch Gorm again today, but rather being all together they had split up into 3 different groups and all over on the Ballinaby side of the Loch. At Ballinaby, there were 75+ Golden Plover while at Coull there was a large flock of them on the wing, perhaps the balance of the birds seen just over a fortnight ago. We saw a Stonechat round at Ballinaby, and also over the last few days I have noticed a few more Wrens here at home. George had seen several Fieldfare at Grainel this afternoon as well as the Little Egret out in front of the hide.

Margaret had found some frog spawn today up the hill, the first here this year, but we have since heard through Malcolm that some frog spawn was seen at Carraig Fhada over at Port Ellen on Tuesday!

Thurs 4th March

Whilst in conversation earlier on this evening with a couple of birders on mainland Argyll, and both of them were commenting on the lack of sightings of Wrens and of also Stonechats. Gordon Yates who was over on Islay for the last fortnight had not seen any Stonechats at all. I have seen one this year, but that is all. We will just have to wait and see what Spring brings, there is always the possibility that some of the birds may have moved on.

I took a quick run round past Coull and Ballinaby this morning, and there was no sign of any Lapwing or Golden Plover, in fact there no Geese either, only a couple of Buzzards. Just before we left home there was a small flock of 37 Lapwing which landed just over the dyke!