Sun 14th Oct- Tues 16th Oct

Sunday, in the afternoon, briefly, I was kept out of mischief, and from doing much work as the others helped to sort out the sheep and tag them.

There were several movements of Brent Geese, albeit in small numbers! On Loch Indaal, there were 32 Grey plover, 121 Bar-tailed Godwit and just over 200 Turnstone. Down on the Oa, there was a probable sighting of a Gyr Falcoln. RAS

A drive up the Glen road on Tuesday morning, with stops for walking and birdwatching, produced Crossbills, Siskins and Coal tits in the mature conifers with their prolific cones. Further on a ring tailed Hen Harrier was hunting, being watched by a Buzzard. Across the valley a Merlin was being harassed by a Hoodie crow. Later on a Golden Eagle was tucking into a rabbit, whilst a juvenile tried to get in on the act. When the juvenile took to the wing, it was dive bombed by a group of Buzzard. Stonechats were along the roadside, with a Kestrel overhead and finally 30+ Fieldfare flew in, looking for invertibrates in the field.
Later on on Ballygrant Loch, there were 6 Dabchicks and 4 Mute Swans. In the woodland, a flock of Siskin and Redpoll were feeding on the alders, and a pair of Bullfinches were also noted. Finally 2 Golden Eagle were seen from near Port Askaig across on Jura, whilst a late Arctic Tern flew down the Sound, where Shags, Eiders and a few Awks were also seen. C & TJ

Fri 12th Oct - Sun 14th Oct

The spell of good weather continues, but for how long we all ask, as long as pay back time does not come too soon....

On Friday, at Loch Gruinart reserve, there were 16425 Barnies, 216 Whitefront, 43 Pale Bellied Brent, 10 Whooper, 242 Lapwing and 30 Snipe. JRH
There were 28 Whooper on Loch Gorm. IKB
While on Saturday, over at Lossit Loch a group of 14 Long tailed Tits were seen. There have been several other sightings of Long tailed Tits recently at various different locations through Islay but this has been the largest in number so far. SMcG
Also on Saturday, at Ardnave there was a group of 25 Turnstone observed on the foreshore. MS
Ardnave, turned up trumps again on Sunday, with a Snow Bunting, a female Greenland Wheatear, while out at sea there were a pair of Long tailed Ducks. Back on Ardnave Loch itself, 3 Slavonian grebes were present. Down offshore at Saligo Bay, several groups of Gannets were flying South . C & TJ
Meanwhile at Machir Bay, 3 dead Triggerfish were found, where their source of origin has yet to be established. JB

Wed 10th Oct - Thurs 11th Oct

Quite a lot of birds to report, so here goes.....

We can start off with the monthly Webs count, from over at Loch Gruinart, covering the whole estuary. 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 19 Shag, 1 Heron, 68 Wigeon, 1 Eider, 36 Red Breasted Mergansar, 255 Oystercatcher, 61 Ringed Plover, 149 Bar Tailed Godwit, 295 Curlew, 31 Redshank, 34 Turnstone, 33 Common Gull, 107 Herring Gull, 2 Greater Black Backed Gull, 1 Cormarant, 227 Dunlin, 4 Black Tailed Godwits, 8 Mallard, 16 Lapwing and 11 Grey Plover. Many thanks to Catherine and her counters for that information. CF

There was a flock of over 600 Golden Plover down at Portnahaven, while up at the head of Loch Indaal there were 300 Dunlin, 9 Little Stint, 1 White Rumped Sandpiper, 12 Bar Tailed Godwit, 120 Ringed plover, 50 Turnstone and 3 Snipe. RAS

Over at Loch Gruinart RSPB, there were 13,385 Barnies, 118 Whitefronts, 1 Canada (Hutcinsii), 6 Fieldfare, 5 Redwing, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Merlin, 2 Mistle Thrush en passage. There were a lot of Blackbirds and Robins on the move too! The reason for the drop in Barnies is that they have already started to go in to groups round the island. JRH

Tues 9th Oct

Forgot to put in Monday's entry that there were 22 Whooper Swans on Loch Gorm, sorry! MAB

Over at Loch Gruinart Reserve, there was a count of 20605 Barnies, 224 Whitefronts and 2 Pink-footed Geese.On the floods there were 319 Teal, 86 Wigeon, 25 Shovellors, 4 Pintail, 10 Black-tailed Godwits, a Peregrine on a fence post, along with 2 Fieldfares flying overhead. The Barnies are on time, but the Ducks are late in arrival. JRH

Out on the estuary, there was a Curlew Sandpiper, 8 Whooper Swans and a further 14 Black-tailed Godwits. MS

Mon 8th Oct

On returning from Port Charlotte this morning, we just stopped for a moment for a quick scan through the geese that were grazing on the stubble field, mainly Barnies and Whitefronts along with the solitary Pinkfoot, and then a double take, what were we seeing? Certainly not a Snow Goose, but indeed a Bar-headed Goose, where it had come from is open to discussion, was it infact a wild goose, or was it one that had escaped from captivity? There is an interesting article about the Bar-headed Goose in the October edition of "Birdwatch" magazine, in which it states that this species is the highest flying migrant as it crosses through the Himalayas on its annual migration. You can see the large wingspan which it has in comparison to the Barnies.

Fri 5th Oct - Sun 7th Oct

The Geese are certainly returning in their numbers, on Friday, at Loch Gruinart there were over 1300 Barnacle Geese, 7 Greenland Whitefronts and 45 Pale Bellied Brent noted. Also seen on Friday were 9 Pintail, a Green Winged Teal, 23 Black Tailed Godwits, 7 Grey Plovers and a Greenshank. A Peregrine Falcon and also a Golden Eagle were also observed. The count at Gruinart at 11am on Sunday was up to 10865 Barnies, 17 Whitefronts, 4 Brent and a solitary Pinkfoot. 22 Whoopers were also on the estuary and a single Redwing was seen. Out on front of the hide 2 family groups of Roe Deer, one of 4 the other 3, were seen grazing quite happily in the sunshine. JRH
Out and about, there was a group 0f 107 Lapwing, quite a few Twite at various locations while at home, Goldfinches were seen on seed heads and a new "house tick" with Long tailed Tits. On Saturday evening there was the sound of the Red Deer Stags roaring down the road. IKB

Tues 2nd Oct - Thurs 4th Oct

Lest we forget, some late sightings, there was a Long tailed Skua on Loch Kinnabus on 19th Sept, while on the previous day 24 Whoopers were seen flying over the Oa (? en route to Ireland), 4 on Aros Bay and a further 12 at Laphroaig, all on the 18th. Also last weekend on Sun 30th Sept there was a srtong passage of Redwings and Fieldfares along the South East coast of Islay.
On Tuesday 2/10 at Loch Gruinart Reserve, there were 62 Brent geese, 38 Black Tailed Godwits, 4 Ruff and 16 Pintail. Today, Thursday from Gartmain on Loch Indaal, 150 Knot, 100 Bar Tailed Godwits and 450 Wigeon. Round at Crosshouses, a Jack Snipe flew across the road, almost giving another kind of statistic...... RAS
Today at Gruinart, the first of the larger flights of Barnacle Geese came in, with a final total this evening of 1340. JRH