Tues 8th Sept

In the wee small hours of the night we had a very large thunderstorm, accompanied with heavy rain and wind as well, but this evening it is all in the past. The only downside is that the "Rest & be Thankful", the A83, our main trunk road on the mainland is closed because of another mud slip!

This morning, round towards Saligo Bay, there was a single Wheatear, and coming home a wee while later on, there was a charm of 18 Goldfinches on the Gorse bushes near to Coull. This afternoon, down at Port Charlotte, there were a few Razorbills to be seen on Loch Indaal, as well as some Arctic Terns on the wing.

Mon 7th Sept

This morning the Peregrine was sitting out on top of the crag again, waiting and looking for the Rock doves to fly past, will they never learn? Down to Bowmore at lunchtime or thereabouts, and at the top of Loch Indaal on the merse at the back of the market, there was a large group of Greylags resting up, how many I could not say for sure. Further on, with the tide being out, there were quite a few Godwits to be seen, while on the water itself there were some Eider duck to be seen coming out of their eclipse plumage. Back over the crag this evening, and there were several Chough out tumbling about as they do in their flight. Later on some of them were flying round about the ruin of the former church, being vocal with it too!

Sun 6th Sept

Times flies, as that is 20% of the month away already. This morning the weather was not too bad, but as the day progressed it has turned out to become rather damp and miserable, not pouring, just a rather fine drizzle, enough to get everything wet through, the combines would not even have started today at all!

On a more positive note, but not here on Islay, I was glad to hear and read on their web page that the first of the new modules have arrived on Fair Isle, where they have already demolished the old Bird Observatory, but hope to have the new obs up and running for next year. I must be one of the few can claim to have been visited the original obs, the second observatory too, and all going well, will go and visit again once the third obs is opened. I am not that old, before somebody comments to the contrary!

Fri 4th Sept

For once, at least we can crow about having some better weather, with the farmers here playing catch up with their combines out in the barley fields, and others taking the chance to make a late cut of silage. Not like the folk in the North East of Scotland who have had up to a months' rain in 24 hours, with flooding and damage on top it all.

George had around 50 Razorbills offshore in Loch Indaal this morning, as large a number as he can recollect, there were also a few Gannets fishing there too.

Thurs 3rd Sept

An image through today from James of the juv. Spotted Redshank which he had seen the other day over on the estuary at Gruinart.

This morning, James had a Little Grebe on Ardnave Loch, last night/ late evening he had a Barn Owl out hunting over the flats, and in the afternoon, while he was working on the sluices, he was surprised at the large numbers of eels to be seen, many up to 60cm in size. Little wonder there are often Herons seen down there regularly!

Coming back from Gruinart this afternoon, and we had a really close sighting of a male Hen Harrier close to Donald "Lairds" house, and then further on, nearer to Loch Gorm was a Ringtail Hen Harrier. This morning, there was a Peregrine perched on the crag, perhaps waiting around for another Rock Dove!

Wed 2nd Sept

Thinking back to my reference about the berries on the Hawthorn and Rowan, well Margaret came out with an old Border expression, " Many Haws, many snaws". Snaw being the Hawick slang for snow!

Malcolm commented on seeing a few Arctic Terns moving South down Loch Indaal over the last few days, with up to 10 this morning. The Greylag geese have taken a liking to the barley field down beside the Coastguard Houses down at the road end. The field is partially cut, with most of the geese on the stubble grubbing around for any grain on the ground while the rest of the geese were actually in the crop that still has to be harvested. There were around 250 geese in total. A Grey wagtail was out on the lawn in front of the cottages just after midday today.

Tues 1st Sept

Just to keep you all in the loop, the rainfall in August certainly proved to be the wettest month over at the Airport since they started recording in 2001, with almost 9", a bit more than here! Thanks for the info Malcolm.

James had been able to escape the office work yesterday, and had seen a Corncrake at his road end, a Peregrine eating a Rock dove and also 125 Linnets on the "game crop" at Grainel. There were plenty of Common Hawker Dragonflies on the wing too. In the evening, he had a Barn Owl out hunting, and later on James heard his first stags of the year roaring. Today, James managed a quick scan round Loch Gruinart and his highlights included 120 Curlew, 122 Bar tailed Godwits, 55 Redshank, 179 Oystercatcher, 6 Greenshank, 326 Sanderling, 74 Knot, 965 Dunlin, 64 Ringed Plover, a single juvenile Spotted Redshank, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and a pair of adult Peregrine together. The count for the Sanderling was a good count.