Tuesday 6th December

Forgot to say the other day that the blog passed another milestone, with the magic 1,400 entries being broken.... Yesterday David had carried out a Farmland bird count down on the Oa which produced the following figures, 510 Twite, 65 Linnet, 12 Reed Bunting, 32 Chaffinch, 6 Greenfinch, 120 Fieldfare, 30 Redwing and 8 Song Thrush. George yesterday had 90 Greylag, 50 Whitefronts and 2 Barnies on the fields up behind his house. An hour later, only the Barnies remained but their numbers were swelled in excess of 600!!! The Heron was present on his ponds too. Danny today counted over 300 Lapwing on the flats at Gruinart.

Tuesday 6th December

Late last night we had a few flashes of lightening and distant rumbles of thunder to go with it. Today there have been quite a few squally showers on the go, here the ground is still green but further over, the hills are white for sure! David down on the Oa had 3 Golden Eagles, 2 Chough and a Sparrowhawk. Danny today had 5 Pale bellied Brent at Bruichladdich, 2 Great Northern Diver on Loch Indaal before he came into Port Charlotte. Up the back of Portnahaven, 50 Fieldfare were seen. At Coullabus, there were 6 Reed Buntings on the roadside, and also a Kestrel. There was another Kestrel over at Sunderland. He also had a female Sparrowhawk on a mission down at Foreland, whether it caught its' intended prey he did not see as it had then flown on out of sight! Finally Danny had 6 Brent Geese over at Bowmore.

Monday 5th December

A beezer of a day. Here on the West coast of Islay, just the odd shower of hailstones, but the hills of Mull were pure white, nothing on Colonsay, a dusting of snow on Jura and the same on the hills around Port Ellen. Yesterday Carl had been out round Loch Gorm, at Sunderland there was a Reed Bunting, while on the burn at Rockside a Heron was present, 4 Whoopers were on Loch Gorm, and round at Ballinaby 6 Redwing were seen. At Brybruich, another 6 Redwings were present and also a flock of Curlew. Back at Port Charlotte, Carl had a Siskin, 3 Greenfinch as well as a Peregrine. This morning there was a male Hen Harrier down over the lochans at Rockside and the Heron was still to be seen on the burn. Later on, we had 27 Greylags down at Bruichladdich, initially I thought it was the Brents that are often seen there but on checking them out, they were Greylags! Louise had a Glaucous Gull this morning off Saligo. Danny today had a mixed flock of 70 Golden Plover and 120 Lapwing on the flats at Gruinart, and later on down on the Oa he saw 60 Fieldfare.

Sunday 4th December

Bob yesterday had a Merlin over at Gartmain, today at Bolsay Moor he saw a Red Grouse, and a Woodcock. On the fields coming home he had 20 Fieldfare, and at home Bob counted 12 Greenfinches on the feeders. George today on his feeders had 7 Blackbirds, 4 Greenfinches and 10 Chaffinches. Down on the shore below his house there were 2 Purple Sandpipers and in his fields, 8 Hares were present. James had 2 Woodcock on the reserve at Gruinart, 2 Hen Harriers, a Sparrowhawk and at the hut circles at Culbuie road end, 6 Bullfinches were noted. Danny counted 30 Chaffinches down at the Coastguards this morning. The geese round at Ballinaby were getting spooked by a male Hen Harrier as it kept quartering over them. The same was the story at the hide where 2 Shoveler came in directly in front of the hide only to move on smartly as a Hen Harrier was on the move too. With this colder snap here, the bird feeders have been busy although I have not seen so many Goldfinches around as of late, a couple over at the cottages the other day but none since.

Saturday 3rd December

I know it is December, but all the same it has been a bit parky outside today, it was not that cold at this time last year, but then I was in Trinidad while the UK had the snow etc... Ewan and his friends left Islay on Thursday, but before they left, they managed to get out to Claggain Bay where they had an Otter, and counted 10 Great Northern Divers, 20 Common Scoter and a Slavonian Grebe. At Port Askaig, they had a Golden Eagle over Jura. They had " a great 4 days of birding and certainly we want to return". It was great to meet with them and good of them to pass on some of their sightings. James had 20 Whoopers at Gruinart today and also a Peregrine. There was a small group of 7 Whoopers taking off from the lochans below Rockside, and they appeared to be heading out en route to Ireland, as we headed out for our papers. On our way back there was a Merlin just before Sunderland Farm. Danny who came over yesterday had an Otter at Kennacraig as he waited on the midday ferry. Today on Ardnave Loch, he had 3 Whooopers, on his way there he had a male Hen Harrier on the reserve at Gruinart. At Bowmore, Danny had a couple of Goldeneye, 2 Red breasted Mergansers and a small group of Pale bellied Brent. There were also a few Curlews in a field beside Blackrock.

Friday 2nd December

Ewan Urquhart who has been up with his 2 friends, John and Badger, sent in their sightings from Wednesday when they started down on the Oa. They saw 2 Golden Eagles, 60+Rock Doves, 1 male Stonechat, over 100 Twite. From the generating station at Bowmore, on Loch Indaal they had 10 Common Scoter, 4 Long tailed duck (including 2 males), 1 winter plumage Black Guillemot, 1 first winter Scaup which was asleep close to the shore, further out was a large flock which they did not manage to count. Also seen from there, they had 6 Great Northern Divers and 7 Slavonian Grebes. Further on between Bridgend and Port Ellen, there was a count of 3,500 Barnies and the small Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp was with them. Many thanks. Today, David down on the Oa reserve had 84 Rock Dove, 57 Fieldfare, 25 Redwing, 105 Starling and 8 Whooper Swan.

By the way, the wind is picking up and tomorrow's Colonsay/ Oban ferry has already been cancelled...

Thursday 1st December

Yesterday Bob had been up at Loch Skerrols, and had seen 2 female Goldeneye, 16 Tufted Duck, 12 Wigeon and 42 Mute Swan. Down at East Lodge, there were 4 Whoopers and 45 Wigeon, back over above Knockdon, an immature Golden Eagle was out, while round at Gruinart, 17 Whoopers were present and in the "floods" in front of the hide, there "lots of ducks packed into large flocks, making them hard to count." David, yesterday down on the Oa, had a Golden Eagle, Merlin, Hen Harrier, Kestrel, Buzzard, and also 3 Whoopers. On the track leading up to Kinnabus, he had a mixed flock of wee birds consisting of Twite, Linnet, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Brambling. This morning going over to Gruinart, we had a close sighting of a male Hen Harrier as we went over the moor, 20 Whoopers flying South down Loch Gruinart. Coming home the fields at Ballinaby held quite a number of Barnies and further on a Merlin flew across the road in front of us.