Wed 14th Oct

Another day in, and James had been busy counting the geese again on the reserve at Gruinart along with one or two other birds thrown in. His totals are as follows, 25,240 Barnacle Geese, 16 Whitefronts, 2 Canada Geese hutchinsii, 1 Pink footed Goose, 2 Pale bellied Brent Geese, 24 Greylags, 1 Peregrine Falcon and a single Ruff.

George had a flock of 30 Golden Plover on his way round Loch Gorm, while at home he had 20 Snipe on his pools.

Visiting birders reported to saw that they had seen a Swallow over at Ardbeg on Monday, and 80 Whitefronts at Rockside yesterday afternoon. Other birders had spotted a female Chaffinch over at the cottages this morning, with a metal ring on one of it's legs, so where has that one come from? They had also seen 17 feral goats along at the Radar masts at Kilchiaran. I forgot to mention of seeing a white duck down at the head of Loch Indaal yesterday, close to where there was one seen last winter. It was seen along with some Mallards, so could it be last year's bird, is it an albino, or possibly an escaped farmyard duck?

Tues 13th Oct

Rather than give you all an update with more goose figures tonight, James has been in contact with a count which he carried out on the floods, so here goes.... 1316 Teal, 244 Wigeon, 35 Mallard, 9 Pintail, 5 Gadwall, 2 Tufted Duck, 3 Moorhen, 2 Little Grebe, 13 Mute Swan, 12 Black tailed Godwit, 46 Lapwing, 3 Curlew, 3 Heron, 4 Black headed Gull, 6 Herring Gull and 16 Snipe.

George saw a couple of Arctic terns at Bruichladdich, while Catherine had a Grey Phalarope on Loch Gruinart. All I am contributing tonight is a Hedgehog at the roadside as well as a few frogs out hopping across the road as we came back home this evening!!!!

Mon 12th Oct

Well, as one of our neighbours described them, "they just looked like a cloud of midges". The geese, as I have been saying for a few days of late have been in a large flock over on Minister's field. This morning from just after 7am, there was a steady stream of large skeins of geese coming over from the Gruinart direction, with all the skeins flying very high up in the sky. The discussion has now rolled out were these "Gruinart" geese, or were they new arrivals? Certainly those of us who witnessed it think that they were in fact new birds in. Later on, they moved together down onto the heather while others appeared to be resting up on the water on Loch Gorm. We will have to wait to see what's about tomorrow morning!

Sun 11th Oct

Possibly not the clearest of images, but this female Sparrowhawk was momentarily on top of a straining post over towards Coull Farm this morning. You do not always appreciate the size of some birds, and this was no exception in that it was on this post which was not much more than 8" in diameter! It took off after a Pheasant, with no luck!

There was a small group of 22 Whoopers flying West along Loch Gorm, I had expected them to land there but they did not. Onto the lochans at Rockside and they just kept flying, so I thought they might land on the barley stubbles, but instead they kept on going out to the sea and no doubt on directly to their wintering grounds in Ireland. Malcolm yesterday had 17 at the head of Loch Indaal, with the Arctic Tern still present at Bruichladdich itself.

New folk in at the cottages had a Kestrel over Loch Gorm, both Teal and Wigeon on Loch Gorm and the lochans as well as a Rintail Hen Harrier on the wing.

Sat 10th Oct

A better day weather wise, bird wise I cannot really comment on as I was busy with the cottages! One of our guests, who left today, had been over on Jura in the middle of the week and had been fortunate to spot an Otter, close at hand, just North of Craighouse. It was only about 20 metres away and was in a typical Otter pose, on its back eating it's prey. Needless to say our visitors were duly impressed, watching an Otter so close and for a full quarter of an hour! They also commented on seeing some of the many Deer on Jura.

Back home here today, and there were 12 Whoopers in at Rockside, they were new arrivals as we saw them coming in. Perhaps with a lull in the wind, we may see some more over the next few days.

Fri 9th Oct

The weather took a backward step today, especially late on this afternoon with really heavy squally showers, should not complain as that was the weather forecast!

Undeterred James set out, in the afternoon, yes he did get wet, but he did get a goose count on the reserve, and as the weather was not so good he concentrated on the Barnies with a count of 22,405 up by 7,000 in the past couple of days! The lesser Canada Goose is still with the Barnies. There were also 8 Whooper Swans to be seen this afternoon too. One of the volunteers at the reserve saw the 4 Redwing today, possibly the first of them coming through.

Earlier on in the week, during a "Farmland bird survey", there were good counts of 65 Linnet and 95 Skylark in one field, another field had 120 Linnet while a third field had 41 Meadow Pipit. These figures came through from Catherine.

Thurs 8th Oct

The geese across in Minister's field last night were certainly having a good blether in the moonlight, still talking between each other late on ....

James was in touch with figures through from yesterday, and these are birds solely on the reserve, so birds on Craigens are not included! The "scores on the doors" came through at 15,130 Barnacle Geese, 38 Greenland Whitefronts, 8 Pale bellied Brent Geese, 1 Pink footed Goose, 1 Lesser Canada Goose huchinsii, 1 male Sparrowhawk and a Short eared Owl. He also manged a count of ducks too, 745 Teal, 77 Wigeon, 9 Shoveler and 5 Pintail. James was saying that the geese are still arriving, and commented that we have not had many Whoopers through yet, and also that there are not many Greenland Whitefront here at present.