Friday 9th November

Just as well that I have got some sightings up my sleeve from yesterday. The weather has not been that great here today, ferries cancelled with heavy, dirty squally showers in the mix as well as the wind huffing and puffing as well...

Back on Wednesday, the Bolton birders had seen 6 Snipe, a Jack Snipe, 2 Turnstone and they also counted 30 Dunlin at "smelly corner". Yesterday, they had seen a female Merlin as they drove up towards Rockside, and also 2 distant Golden Eagle were seen out over Gleann Osamail.. Over the moorland they saw 2 different ringtail Hen Harriers. Over behind Kilmeny, they had a Sparrowhawk, and past Storakaig 3 Golden Eagles. Down at Mulindry and towards Ballytarsin, 400 Whoopers were present. Mike Peacock had seen a male and a female Pochard on Loch Skerrols. Also yesterday,  James  had 2 Brambling, as well as a Golden Eagle on the reserve at Gruinart while up at Sanaigmore, he saw a Merlin. Mike Bell yesterday,  had counted 104 Whoopers at Rockside with a further 117 at Sunderland. He also had counted 240 Rock Doves at Sunderland. A walk from the car park at Bridgend up to wards Octovullin was quite productive...a total of 140 Redwing seen, 26 Fieldfare, 65 Skylarks, 450 Chaffinch along with 2 Brambling noted up close to Octovullin. Raptors/ birds of prey seen included an imm. White tailed Eagle and a Raven picking a carcass, a male and a ringtail Hen Harrier, an adult and also a imm. Golden Eagle, Mike also counted 180 Woodpigeons and he also saw the 2 Pochard on Loch Skerrols as well. On a drive from Ballygrant along the Glen road, he saw another adult and an imm. Golden Eagle in the air up past Knocklearoch while out past Storakaig another Golden Eagle away out over the hills. He also saw 65 Redwing and 3 Fieldfare at Barr Farm with 45 Redwing and 5 Fieldfare down at Cattadale. At Gruinart, on the floods, Mike counted  2,150Teal, 165 Wigeon, 65 Pintail, 20 Shoveler, 9 Blackwits, 1,500 Golden Plover and a ringtail. On his way back to his cottage, Mike had a male Hen Harrier at Carnduncan and then another seen past Ballinaby and then a ringtail just before Coull road end. Up at Coull, in at the farm steading, Mike had a Starling mumeration of around 1,000 birds in all

Sunday 28th February

Saturday is day that most folk either come or leave Islay and yesterday was no exception. Pat and Angie from Yorkshire headed on to the Cairngorms while Gordon and Pauline Yates ("The Rochdale birders") headed home. David and Jenny left on the early evening ferry, but fitted in some more birdwatching, and what a day, seeing 4 Golden Eagles, On the loop round the Rhinns, they saw 2 Goldies, another was seen up past Killinallan and the final Goldie was seen over the hills out past Loch Skerrols.. Other birds seen were  8 Goldeneye on Loch Gorm, a flock of over 30 Chough at Machir Bay and some Twite at Killinallan. In fields adjacent to Loch Skerrols, they counted 66 Woodpigeons, their largest number of Woodpigeons during their stay. Thanks to you all for sharing with us your birds. Martin had taken a walk round Loch Skerrols mid week seeing Wren, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Tree creeper, Buzzard, Grey Heron, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Mute Swan and Whitefronted Geese and then he tucked into a couple of Marshmallows for his efforts....New arrivals, Mark Holling with his 2 colleagues had seen the cackling Goose over amongst the flock of 500 Barnies at Kinnabus. They also spent time looking through another flock of around 1500 Barnies in the Cornabus valley and found a pale bellied Brent amongst them. Further along the road towards Kintra, they saw 130 Chaffinches, 60 Skylarks, and 10 Mipits. While down on the Oa itself, they also saw a distant Golden Eagle and also a pair of Chough. Late afternoon, they saw 3 Scaup and a raft of 25 Common Scoter on Loch Indaal. Chris Mills and his group from Norfolk Birding also arrived over yesterday. At Kennacraig, before the ferry left, a pair of Goosander flew past, while in the water was an adult female Velvet Scoter. From the ferry during the sailing, they saw 6 RTD, 36 GND, 7 Slav Grebes, a raft of 14 BTD, 20 RB Merganser, 2 Common Scoter. As they approached Port Askaig, a Golden Eagle was seen over Jura. Coming along Loch Indaal, a Glaucous Gull was spotted and finally 2 Whooper Swan were seen flying in off the sea at Machir Bay, flying in towards Loch Gorm. On our way out Bowmore yesterday, there were 13 Eider, along at Blackrock, 4 RB Merganser were close in with 9 Pale bellied Brents on the water's edge there too.

Saturday 27th February

The Rochdale birders had yesterday had been over at Bunnahabhain where they saw 2 Otters out in the bay. They also spotted Golden Eagle in the  distance carrying what they took to be "some nesting material" and then a couple of ringtails, talon gripping. Over on the "glen road", they had a Peregrine at the roadside plucking a Redwing, before the Peregrine flew off with its' prey. Finally at Carnduncan, they counted 100 Fieldfare and 10 Redwings. David and Jenny yesterday started their day seeing a Dipper on the River Sorn at Bridgend. In Ballygrant woods, they saw 10 Woodpigeon. Along at Finlaggan, a total of 8 Buzzards were present and also a ringtail. On the "distillery pond" behind Port Charlotte, they saw a Moorhen. Pat and Angie had been over on Jura, seeing a White tailed Sea Eagle, 2 Golden Eagle, several Stonechats, Long tailed Tits, a Kestrel, and GND. Felicity and David Pollard have been down from Mull for a few days... They had seen 4 Reed Buntings down on the Oa, and close views of Golden Plover. On Loch Indaal, a pair of Long tailed Ducks were off Blackrock, with 13 Pale bellied Brent further along the coast.

Monday 14th September

A glorious day out here folks, with a tremendous sunset coming here soon as well. I was speaking to folk on the mainland who have not been so lucky today! Yesterday, Bob, Gary and myself carried out the WeBS count from Bowmore to Gartbreck, along the shore of Loch Indaal, so here are our birds. 11 Mute Swan, 1 Cormorant, 35 Shag, 2 Kittiwake, 900 Greylag, 17 Mallard, 41 Teal, 3 Wigeon, 9 Eider, 52 R B Merganser, 2 Heron, 20 Oystercatcher, 26 Curlew, 66 Barwits, 31 Knot, 5 Redshank, 88 Dunlin, 4 Greenshank, 11 Ringed Plover, 2 Ruff, 5 Turnstone, 27 GBB Gull, 1 LBB Gull, 121 H Gull, 6 C Gull and 42 BH Gull. As we walked down the lane towards the shore, a Peregrine zipped past and shortly after around 50 Twite were seen. Bob at Gartmain saw 600 Greylags on the destroyed barley field, with 132 Wigeon and 63 Mallard on Loch Indaal itself. Jim Dickson is over for the week, on Saturday he had a count of 105 Woodpigeon on the silage aftermath at Sunderland. Today, Jim had an American Wigeon at Ardnave Loch, 2 Whitethroats at The Hedges and finally 450 Starlings at Rockside roadend.

Friday 27th April

Another great image sent through by the Argyll birder of some Bar tailed Godwits taken earlier this week. Yesterday morning he had bee out with Bob and they had seen 5 Whimbrel, and Peregrine out towards Laggan Point. They also had 2 Sandwich Terns at the top of Loch Indaal, round at Gruinart the Glaucous Gull was still present, along with 6 Gadwall and 1 Black tailed Godwit.There were another 8 Blackwits at Lossit Farm down on the Rhinns. The Hampshire birders yesterday had 2 pr of Eider at Uiskentuie, and 3 Red breasted Merganser. Over at Avonvoggie, they saw a female Merlin chasing a lbj, not sure of the final outcome! From the hide at Gruinart, 2 Barnies, Gadwall, 3 Whooper Swan, 3 Pintail, and 4 Shoveler. From the new hide, there were 2 Chough directly outside on the cattle droppings! In the evening at Ballinaby, there were 100 Golden Plover and 40 Linnet in the same field. In the adjacent field were 3 Whitefronts, 6 Greylags and a single Barnacle Goose. On to today, the Pectoral Sandpiper was still to be seen out from the new hide, while down on the Oa, Dave had 2 Golden Eagle and 2 Hen Harriers. Bonnie, Dave's wife had 4 Little Terns on the Strand. Back here at home, there has been a Woodpigeon for the last couple of days

Thurs 3rd Dec

A better day for a change, weather wise, no rain but we did have a shower of hail stones briefly this morning!

James saw 20 Woodpigeon yesterday afternoon at the reserve at Gruinart, the largest number there that he can recall. The Little Egret was down at Carnain again today. James was discussing with me about the Egret this morning, as the one that was with the Cattle Egret earlier on, was last seen over at Port Ellen and "disappeared" for a while and then this one came, coinciding with a sighting of one up in Oronsay, so possibly this is a diiferent bird! 3 Whooper Swans flew over our house this afternoon, no doubt heading out and over to Ireland.

Tues 24th March

Rather a miserable day outside, definitely a backward step from last week!

Michal had seen a couple of Woodpigeons in the wood opposite his house over at Gruinart, and to us over here they are quite rare, we see more Rock doves!

Sun 20th May 07

Weather has calmed down today and the sun is shining again! In the woods around Bridgend, a woodpigeon was seen, we have more resident Rock Doves on Islay than Woodpigeon. Also on the River Sorn there was a fleeting glimpse of a Kingfisher. S.McG.
A White-tailed Sea Eagle was seen being mobbed by Crows before flying off. S.C.
Quite a few of the shore nesting birds, like Common Gull and Ringed Plover appear to have lost their nests after the high tide coupled with the strong winds on Friday night. M.A.B.