Thursday 31st October

Back on Monday, James had counted 1,685 Golden Plover on the reserve at Gruinart.  (MB had counted 1,690 there last Saturday).On Tuesday, James had a count of 1,074 Teal out from the hides at Gruinart, he also saw a Dabchick and also 4 Blackwits there as well

Yesterday, MB had seen an imm White tailed Eagle down at Bridgend. On the walk between Bowmore to Gartbreck, he had counted 3 RTD, a GND, 348 Whitefronts, 5,900 Barnies, a P b Brent, 64 Wigeon, 117 Teal, 26 Mallard, 3 Pintail, 3 Goldeneye, 88 Eider, 44 R b Merganser, 41 Oystercatcher, 53 Ringed Plover, 3 Grey Plover, 1 Snipe, 10 Dunlin, 3 Barwits, 21 Curlew, 17 Redshank, 11 Turnstone, 2 Lapwing, 3 W t Eagle (2 Ad + an imm), 7 Rock Pipit and also 8 Twite. Along at Octovullin, he saw an imm Golden Eagle while over the hills behind Finlaggan he had an adult Golden Eagle.

Jesse Wilkinson, one of the film cameramen who are over on Islay, well along with his colleague Nick they seen an Osprey flying South down Loch Indaal, early afternoon. He also told me that he had seen 3 W t Eagles and also 2 Golden Eagles between Loch Indaal and over at Loch Gruinart.

This morning, Distillery Dave had seen 6 Long tailed Tits fly through his garden. This morning Margaret saw a male Hen Harrier below Sue Campbell's house between Coull and Saligo. ( I never saw it, as I was driving, honest!!!) Round at Ballinaby there was a family group of 6 Whoopers present which was nice to see, close to the roadside as well.

Also today, the RAFOS team had seen a Black throated Diver on Loch Indaal out below the Gaelic College. They had also seen a 2 W t Eagles trying to wrestle some prey from an Otter, and the victor was the Otter

Thursday 8th November

Bob, yesterday had been on the "Gruinart run" while helping out with the goose count. On the reserve at Gruinart, he saw the Little Egret as well as a Pale bellied Brent goose. Up at Killinallan, he had a flock of 300 Redwings and also 2 male Merlin seen together close by. Over at Ardnave, a flock of 800 Golden Plover was seen with a smaller flock of 150 present at Grainel. Mike Bell yesterday had 88 Whoopers at Rockside, with another 110 along at Sunderland. Later on, he had seen the imm. Golden Eagle  between Carrabus and Coullabus. Over at Gruinart, Mike had the sighting of the Little Egret in full view, not like the other day when it had been lurking in one of the muddy creeks!!! On the floods, Mike counted 1,900 Teal with 1,550 Golden Plover in the air. A Buzzard flushed 65 Snipe. Also seen there were 4 Greenshank, 141 Curlew and 40 Redshank while on the flats, on the fields which have been cut really short recently, 100 Barwit and 6 Knot kept dropping in and out.

This morning, Louise, on her way to work this morning, had seen 3 White tailed Eagles, 3 Buzzards, a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk, between Gatehouse and the ferry at Feolin on Jura. Here at home the wee birds have been busy on the feeders for most of the day and the Brambling was evident in the mix this afternoon.

Saturday 12th November

Dave counted incredible 948 twite on the Oa couple days ago! Some results from survey of Floods at Loch Gruinart: 305 whitefronts, 101 mallards, 546 teal, 18 pintails, 24 shovelers, 115 lapwings. Couple ringtail hen harriers were also seen at Gruinart

Tuesday 26th May

The Teme valley birders had seen a pair of Teal on the wet scrape towards Coull yesterday evening. Today they had a couple of Cuckoos, one below Sunderland Farm, as you take the turning down along "the hedges" and past the wee quarry at the foot of the hill. The other one was up at Ardnave . At the Bird nerds meeting this evening we had seen/heard 24 different species from the carpark leading to Islay House square, from there we walked along the bank of the River Sorn and returning along the other bank. The birds we had were as follows Siskin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Spotted Flycatcher, Treecreeper, Starling, Jackdaw, Herring Gull, Robin, Willow Warbler, Wren, Blackcap, Mallard, Cuckoo, Mistle Thrush, Dipper, Blue Tit, Sparrowhawk, Swallow, Peregrine and Goldfinch. Highlight for me was seeing the 3 male and a female Bullfinch together! Coming home, down on the barley field at the coastguards were 43 Greylags, but none with any collars on...

Friday 12th December

Bob today had been out and about and sent through the best of his sightings. Down on the Oa, at Kinnabus, Bob had a male Hen Harrier with a ringtail seen as he headed towards Gartbreck at the "Moss road" just after Rannochmore. On Loch Tallant, Bob had a count of 800 Teal. Back over at Grainel at Gruinart, he had 320 Fieldfare along with male Hen Harrier while another ringtail was seen at Balllinaby. Close to the Coastguards, Bob had a Peregrine with a Golden Eagle spotted at Sunderland. Finally on Loch Indaal, at Blackrock a White tailed Sea Eagle was present.

Michael from Dunblane had made the most of some better weather today. He had seen a total of 5 Hen Harriers, a male over near to Port Ellen, 4 ringtails, one at Kilchoman, another at Gruinart, one at Duich Lots and the final one close to Kintra. While going down the Oa, Michael had a femele Peregrine eating its' prey on top of an electric pole! This morning at Gruinart, he had a count of 1720 Teal, 1 Green winged Teal, 71 Pintail, 1750 Golden Plover and a Blackwit. On the woodland trail Michael had 62 Fieldfare with a further 70 over at Leorin, just out of Port Ellen. Also at Gruinart, he had 3 Whoopers and and then a further 5 later on and then another 6. At Sunderland Farm, he saw a Merlin. Margaret, this morning here at home, had 7 Whoopers fly past and then a Peregrine shortly afterwards. Many thanks to Gordon and Pauline Yates, the "Rochdale birders" for sharing some of their sightings while you were over last week. Today, James has been busy helping with a beached Atlantic White sided Dolphin. It was found close to "smelly corner" and I believe they managed to relocate it into the water down at Bowmore Harbour. Wonder what the news will be of it tomorrow...

Tuesday 17th September

Aah at last I am signed in - Satellite broadband is a challenge we have to bare.
Out and about around Gruinart today, the water levels on the Floods are rising and birds are starting to arrive. A big count of 530 Teal in front of the new hide, also 25 Pale Bellied Brent geese and now 8 Barnacle Geese on the Loch. On the Flats a plump Greenland Wheatear

Wednesday 21st November

I met Bob today who had a few records for the blog.
From Sunday 18th a count between Bowmore and Gartbreck: 2 shelduck, 350 wigeon, 380 teal, 140 mallard, 3 eiders, 17 red b. mergansers, 1 gtr. n. diver, 13 cormorants, 64 shags, 1 heron, 98 oystercatchers, 10 ringed plover, 44 golden plover, 66 lapwing, 59 dunlin, 3 bar wits, 97 curlew, 19 redshank and 24 turnstones. On monday a count on the Uiskentuie strand produced, 45 turnstones, 32 dunlin and 24 whooper swans heading south.
Today Bob reported - at Uiskentuie, a peregrine and 30 whooper swans heading south. At Loch Grinart, on the Floods 23 pintail, 400 teal, 160 wigeon and 1 hen harrier. At Ardnave Loch, 8 goldeneye and 4 whooper swans, no sign of the red breasted goose, although there were lots of barnacle geese flying around.

Wednesday 28th September

Last night I was told that Gordon Langsbury had passed away suddenly on Sunday. Gordon had visited Islay many times and was a true friend to us all. Gordon was well pleased to see Islay represented at the recent Bird Fair held down at Rutland Water and he kept a watchful eye on us while we were there. You will be missed Gordon.

Yesterday down at "Smelly Corner" Carl had 200 Teal and along at Gartmain, Carl saw a Wheatear. Over at Gruinart this afternoon, Michal had counted 277 Pale Bellied Brent Geese on the Loch, on the flats there were 70 Barnies and there was also a Peregrine finishing off its prey, possibly a wader...

Mon 11th Jan

James had just been commenting on the fact that the floods out in front of the hide at the reserve at Gruinart were all frozen over, and the net result was that there were no ducks at all. Well, this morning Louise had seen 50 Teal on one of the fields round at Ballinaby, and back on Saturday morning there were 60 Wigeon on the foreshore at Blackrock at the head of Loch Indaal. Today at home there was another Woodcock seen, or was it the same bird as seen yesterday?

Mon 21st Sept

The weather has not been that great, we certainly did not have much heavy rain today, but there was a low mist which kept coming and going, along with light rain in the strong wind, not too nice really!

Having said that I had to take a quick run over to Bowmore at lunchtime, the tide was well out on Loch Indaal. I saw 3 Pale bellied Brent Geese just below the Gaelic College, my first this year although some were seen earlier on. Also on the Loch were a lot of Wigeon, and round at "smelly corner" were plenty of Teal. On the estuary itself were plenty waders, Oystercatcher mainly, a few Godwits, Curlew and some Mute Swan on the water too. Back nearer to home and there were not so many Greylags at Sunderland, but there appeared to be more along at Rockside today. The Swallows and House Martins here at home appeared to have moved on although I did see 2 Swallows at Loch Skerrols on Saturday evening.

Thurs 11th - Fri12th Sept

On Thursday, I morning I was over assisting on the guided walk at Loch Gruinart reserve. From the platform, we had good viewings of a ring tail Hen Harrier and Peregrine Falcon as they flew over the floods but not actually hunting for prey as such. At one time they were both on the ground within several yards of each other, and indeed they flew off together after that. Up at Gruinart Farm, there were 2 Ravens and also a Buzzard close at hand while away up at Ardnave some Chough were seen through the 'scope. Coming back along the road, the Swallows and House Martins were on the wing, and we were able to show the folk on the walk, the difference between the 2 birds. In a bush on the roadside there was a Wren, invisible to us, but definitely audible, as it gave us its all! There were also around 70 Teal on the floods.

George Jackson was also with us, and he was saying that he had a brief sighting of a Green Sandpiper on one of his ponds, one day last week.

One of our neighbours had been up at Sanaigmore on Thursday evening and commented on the number of Swallows flying over the fields there, possibly birds gathering before moving south. Certainly here at home, there are not as many Swallows around today. Over at Bowmore today, we noticed that several of the Eiders are coming out of their eclipse plumage. Also there were 12 Turnstone, while below the Gaelic College, was a pair of Mute Swan with a single cygnet, possibly the sole survivor from the 7 that hatched earlier on at Carnain.

Fri 6th June

Michal got these young Lapwing chicks, just a few hours old this morning, but for how long will there be 4 of them? MS

The other day, James and Andy had a probable 1st summer, non adult, White billed Diver flying far out off Nave Island. At Ardnave itself, Catherine has been seeing terns, both Arctic and Little and a Sandwich Tern too. There was also a group of 35 Dunlin. Back down on the Reserve at Gruinart, in the new cattle shed at the farm steading, Catherine had a young Tawny Owl. Meanwhile out on the Reserve itself, James has seen another pair of Short-eared Owl, and 2 Redpoll while on the floods there was a Teal out with her brood. The Stoat was in his garden again! James also saw the pair of Spotted Flycatcher in the wood today as well as 2 pair of Goldcrest with young. A male Gadwall was on the floods as were 3 Dunlin. With this good spell of weather recently, the Marsh Fritillaries have been observed over the Rhinns in good numbers. Andy reported in to say that he had heard 2 separate Wood warblers, one at Kildalton Wood and the other in the woodland around Ardilistry. He also had really close views of 3 Basking Shark off Texa this evening, and also he told me that there were a lot of Manx Shearwater flying west at the same time. JRH, CF & RAS

Fri 8th Feb

When going over to Bridgend this afternoon, I was fortunate enough to see a group of 47 Pale Bellied Brent Geese, just past Glenburn. Other times when I have mentioned these Geese recently, they have been split into small groups, and certainly never counted to 47 in total at this time of year. Normally, it is reckoned that there is a flock of between 20 - 30 birds that overwinter.

Round at Carnain, there were a lot of Wigeon, numerous Teal to be seen along with a Pintail, and several Shelduck.