Saturday 21st September

Some sightings through from yesterday...Jim Dickson and David Jardine had seen a Turtle Dove amongst 57 Collared Doves on the overhead cables at the grain drier down at Octofad. Later on, down on Machir Bay, they had seen a juv. American Golden Plover. It flew off and was located in a field round at Ballinaby. Peter along with Roger Broad and also Ian Buckley, had gone round to see the "AGP" at Ballinaby, no joy, but found it down on Machir Bay along with 30 Ringed Plover, 4 Sanderling as well as 30 Chough present there. They had seen a Merlin round at Ballinaby... Earlier on in the day, Peter, Roger and Ian had done a stint of sea watching down at Frenchman's Rocks, noting a lot of Gannets fishing there, along with quite a lot of Razorbills and Guillemots seen flying past.

Around midday today, Jim Dickson had counted 10 Slavonian Grebe and also 20 Red throated Diver on Loch Indaal.

Thursday 16th June

Yesterday, Phil Catton had seen a Turtle Dove down at Kinnabus on the Oa. Phil has just arrived here on Islay and is Dave's assistant on the RSPB reserve at the Oa. George and Pat Jackson had seen a pair of Grey Wagtail on the River Sorn with a Garden Warbler singing away nearby. Mid afternoon, they saw a male Hen Harrier fly across the road close to Rockside road end, it then flew on towards Loch Gorm. This afternoon, here at home within a few minutes we heard a Cuckoo calling down in the wood, heard a Corncrake calling in the garden and then a "flypast" by 35 Chough, vocal as ever! This evening, just been out and rescued a couped ewe, got there before the Ravens, the ewe was fine and a moment or two later, her lambs were in for their supper....

Saturday 28th May

What can I say but briefly, it has been an glorious day with wall to wall sunshine... on Thursday, Dave had seen his first Swift for the year down on the coast at Upper Killeyan on the Oa. This evening, Dave saw a Turtle Dove at Kinnabus a new Islay tick for Dave. Here at home, I noticed that a pair of Swallows have taken up residence in one of the "artificial swallow nests" that we had put on our garage, with a pair of House Sparrows rearing a brood of youngsters in the "sparrow terrace" a few yards away!!!!

Monday 1st October

Tom and Jo headed back to the mainland yesterday on the ferry. Before they left, up at Bridgend they had  a sighting of a Turtle Dove. Down at Port Ellen, 21 Whooper Swans were flying South, from the ferry they had good views of a Sooty Shearwater flying alongside. Also seen off the ferry were plenty of Tysties, Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes. They also had a  light phase Arctic Skua. Over their stay they had seen 103 species during their stay. James today had a Peregrine on the salt marsh at Gruinart, Bob had one at his home, along with 35 Lapwing. Bob has seen the continued passage of Skylarks still moving through over the past few days, his biggest flock was a count of 70 birds. Bob also counted 25 Pale bellied Brent Geese at Gartmain. Rockside had 23 Whoopers and of 6 were still at Coull, coming up through the dunes at lunchtime, there was mixed flock of over 40 Twite and 6 Goldfinches.

Thursday 26th May

The day turned out better than I thought it might as it was windy (not so strong though) and wet through the night. The wind would have made it difficult to have heard the Corncrakes round our patch as you tend to hear the sea roaring away, so all in all we went to bed, but the forecast looks like more wind over the next few days... Dave Holden had been over for a few days with his wife and had seen a pair of Turtle Doves over near to Kintra. On the RSPB walk at Gruinart today the folk had close views of some Chough, and on the estuary a Barnacle Goose was still present, no doubt it will remain here all summer now. Mark had mentioned that down at the hide yesterday he had seen a Jackdaw predate a young Redshank chick. Some visitors had also seen a Gull down at Uiskentuie dropping a chick onto the road from a great height, similar to what they do with the mussels...There appears to be a lot of Shelduck around but few with young, but will keep you posted on that front.

Mon 4th October

A pair of Turtle Doves had been seen down at Nerabus on Friday, and as far I know they are still in roughly the same area today, up towards Craigfad.

This morning, Michal had 5 Redwing flying over the RSPB reserve at Gruinart. Also this morning, George had a Raven on his bird table, and while he was down at the shop in Bruichladdich itself, a Peregrine flew along the roadside about 2 metres above the ground. This afternoon, Bob saw a single Pale bellied Brent Goose up the back of Port Charlotte, while in his garden, he had a couple of Goldcrest.

Yesterday, Becky had been through Bridgend woods and had also seen a Kingfisher on the river, as well as a Treecreeper on one of the trees. James had been away at the weekend, but had seen a couple of Great Skuas from the ferry on his to Kennacraig, and on his return in the Sound of Islay, James saw a couple of White tailed Sea Eagles. One of the them was an adult bird, the other a juvenile bird.