Wednesday 7th March

Back on Monday when we were over at Ardbeg, out towards Kildalton, a Long tailed Tit was seen, and today here at home, the Coal Tit was busy on the bird table, the first time there for a few days, may be he has been eating up his stores before they were "out of date".

David and Jenny on their last day yesterday had been over at Claggain Bay and had seen a couple of Great Northern Divers, a Red throated Diver, 2 Shelduck and further out, 2 Gannets. Over at Port Askaig another G. N. D., and also 4 Black Guillemots. It was too wet to see anything off the ferry on the crossing, plus the fact that the outside doors were locked, so one could not get outside! Many thanks to David & Jenny for sharing their sightings with us.

Tuesday 6th March

Bob sent me through this image of a Short eared Owl which he had taken yesterday afternoon, better still, it was at the roadside and Bob had used his car as his hide! James had a Merlin over the flats at Gruinart yesterday. At Ballitarsin, up between Bridgend and Mulindry, visiting birder Richard Drew along his group of 12, had the Canada Goose hutchinsii sp. Another birder from the Lothians had a total of 95 species in the one day, last Wednesday and by the end of his visit he had 109 in total, great...
By the way, weather not too great here today, and yes, around 12.30 there was another wee rumble, only measuring a mere 1.4 this time. It's only the 10th we have had in the last month, or so the experts tell us!

Monday 5th March

Yesterday David & Jenny spent their time on the Oa, with lots of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits & Reed Buntings in a field beside Loch Kinnabus. Closer examination with the scope, and a male Lapland Bunting was present there too! Something spooked the flock and they took off , and although the most of them did return the "Lap" was not to be found again! Also near to the loch were 40 Whitefronts & 20 Barnies. On the loch itself, there were 8 Tufted Duck and pair of Goldeneye as well as a Merlin close by. On the road to the Oa, they had 40 Fieldfare and a couple of Redwing, and at Upper Cragabus they found a Yellowhammer. At Upper Killeyan, David & Jenny had 30 Twite & 4 Linnets. On the cliffs out towards the monument there were around 200 Fulmars.

Today, Bob had a Pectoral Sandpiper along with the Redshank & Greenshank on the floods at Gruinart.

Sunday 4th March

A bit cooler over here today, with the hills over on Mull wearing white caps, here on Islay there has been the odd shower of hailstones, and I heard that the gritters were out on the roads this morning!

Dave & Jenny have moved to stay down close to Port Ellen for their last few days. Yesterday at Claggain Bay they had a Golden Plover, Shelduck and a Great Northern Diver, along at Kildalton Cross, they had around 25 Skylark and a Sparrowhawk, and where they are staying on the road out to the Oa, plenty of Chaffinches are around. They still have not seen a Yellowhammer yet, but there is still time yet...Dave Pitman who was over last week with some birders from Lancs and who was at the "bird nerds" back on Tuesday e mailed through having had a good time. From the ferry coming over, they had 65 Great Northern Diver, 12 Red throated Diver, a White tailed Sea Eagle as well as a Golden Eagle, I was not sure whether they saw the Eagles over Jura or Islay! During their stay they had numerous white winged gulls on their travels around Islay and the Magpie at Ardbeg! On Loch Indaal from Bowmore they had 4 Long tailed Duck and 50 Common Scoter.

Saturday 3rd March

Some more sightings through from David & Jenny from yesterday. From the hide at Gruinart they had 20 Shoveler, 12 Pintail, 7 Gadwall, 1 Little Grebe, 5 Whooper Swan, along with numerous Teal, Wigeon & Mallard. Waders seen were 2 Greenshank, 10 Redshank, 70 Dunlin, 3 Snipe & 2 Black tailed Godwit, a female Hen Harrier was also seen from the hide too. Later on at Saligo, a Merlin was seen and at Ballinaby a Glaucous Gull was present. So in total, that is 100 species this week, time possibly for a few more before they head for home at the start of next week!!!

Friday 2nd March

Malcolm had been out on goose counting for SNH today, and at Ballivicar close to Port Ellen, he had a Dark bellied Brent Goose feeding along with the Barnies present there.

Yesterday, David & Jenny had been looking over Loch Indaal from Bowmore. Their birds were as follows, 2 Long tailed Ducks, at least 6 Slavonian Grebe, 17 Goldeneye, 34 Common Scoter, 9 Red throated Diver, 4 Great Northern Diver, a 2nd winter Iceland Gull & 20 Red breasted Merganser. Close to Ballygrant, they had a male Hen Harrier and at Finlaggan they had a Little Grebe and 6 Crossbills. On Loch Gruinart, from the West side they had 3 Greenshank, 4 Grey Plover, 5 Knot, 10 Dunlin, 20 Turnstone, 250 Barwits as well as some Oystercatchers and Curlews. A Merlin was also seen there too. Finally 2 Short eared Owls were seen in the Loch Gorm area.

Thursday 1st March

A great Spring day over here, the birds in the wood are singing away good style, and there were a couple of pairs of Lapwings displaying out towards the War Graves cemetery. At the pine trees down beyond "the hedges" below Sunderland, there were 2 Ravens, 2 Buzzards and a Heron all mobbing each other....I saw a 2 Pied Wagtails this morning at different places round Loch Gorm, a male and then later a female Stonechat. There were 62 Barnies in one of our fields, something we do not many of, and 8 Greylags closer to the house too! The other night, after the "bird nerds" meeting, one of our local farmers was telling me that the geese with him this year were in different places compared with other years, basically there were to be found on the rougher fields.

Following on the "Spring" theme, Bob had seen 2 pairs of Red Grouse, close to where John L. had seen the pair the other day. Bob also had a Meadow Pipit along with 8 Skylarks singing away. He also had seen the Short eared Owl there too. David & Jenny (visiting birders) had seen a male Hen Harrier round at The Gearach yesterday, and had a count of 81 Fieldfare and 10 Redwing there too. They also had a pair of Golden Eagles on the Rhinns. Down at Portnahaven a Gannet and a female Sparrowhawk were present. At Octofad they saw 3 Goldfinch, and later a Merlin on the shore South of Bruichladdich. At Sunderland they had 15 Herons, and at Machir Bay they had 20 Twite fly past