Wednesday 14th January

Another windy day with some more dirty squally showers, some consisting of rain, others with hailstones, take your pick! I spotted a Buzzard being blown along in the wind today, the first Buzzard that I have seen for some time. There were 4 Whoopers resting up down at Rockside this morning. As I put this entry together, think we are all waiting for the wind to pick up through the night and wait to see what happens from there... the first 2 ferry crossings are already cancelled for tomorrow!!!

Tuesday 13th January

Well, the forecast was correct (as ever!) and we awoke this morning to the ground with a covering of snow, not a lot but it carried on with dirty showers through the day. Think that the other side, Ballygrant and Keills would certainly have had more than us! There were a few flashes of lightening yesterday evening along with the following rumbles of thunder and this has happened again the odd time through the day today. I was even wakened at 2.30am with a really heavy hail shower with the hailstones clattering off the bedroom window!! Long and the short of it was that I certainly did not venture far today, so the big stove was lit and the house is nice and cosy inside... the cats are loving it as we are too!!! Today some of the others had to work... Mary had been out in the trying conditions attempting to do the International Goose Count on the Gruinart/ Ardnave route. To start her day off, an immature Glaucous Gull was seen at Blackrock, with around 20 Scaup offshore there as well. Along at Blackpark, a ringtail Hen Harrier with a second one noted along the flats at Gruinart and a male Hen Harrier close to Grainel. Also there, was a flock of 40 Fieldfare. At Killinallan, another male HH was seen. Over at the lobster ponds at Ardnave, around 50 Sanderling were in 2 tight groups sheltering behind 2 small lumps of seaweed during a particularly heavy hail shower...Nearby, out on some of the wet, boggy ground 5 Pied Wagtails and around 12 Meadow Pipits were feeding. Back close Ardnave Loch, a Merlin was in hot pursuit of a LBJ, finally on the salt marsh Mary had seen an Otter. Bob had been out on the Rhinns route and felt that there were more Skylarks and Meadow Pipits around. By all accounts a day for most birds hunkering down and trying to find shelter , so it will be interesting to see the count figures tally at when they come out!

Monday 12th January

Popped out this afternoon to see if I could see any birds round Loch Gorm for the blog, some success with a ringtail Hen Harrier after Ballinaby towards Leek, there were a few small groups of geese seen, Barnies, Whitefronts and Greylags. There were also a few Lapwings and some Starlings on our travels but nothing much else, see this wind... Mid morning the wind speed was just short of 60 mph and there is not much sign of a let up... they are even talking about snow now too!!! On the positive side of things, at least we have not had the power outages that some folk have had.

Sunday 11th January

Sorry folks, due to the weather conditions out here again, there is no news on the bird front. We had the wind up to 57.7mph late afternoon, the plane arrived late with ferry managing to come across, so full marks to both sets of crews. I heard that Coll, which is another island on the West coast, has not had a ferry since Tuesday and it will not be on possibly Thursday before they expect to have the ferry back to calling in again!

Saturday 10th January

This wild and windy weather continues, we had a gust of 66mph earlier on today. The wind has been over 35mph for most of the day, the sea has been spectacular to watch, with the rocks at Coull Point being covered by the breaking waves. Needless to say, the ferries, not just to Islay, but on the West coast never ventured out from the various ferry terminals, although the plane did make it to Islay this morning! The only piece of news on the bird front was that Ron from Islay Info had been out for a walk this afternoon through the woodland trail at Gruinart and saw around 200 Lapwing around the new hide. Mary had a large group there earlier this week as well.

Friday 9th January

Yesterday, Mary had been up at Ardnave Point where she saw 9 GND feeding on the surf there. She also had 150 Lapwing being put up by a Sparrowhawk while a Peregrine spoofed a flock of Curlew along at Eilaen beag. Close to the Lobster ponds, Mary spotted 6 Grey Plover. Nearby there was a small (?young) Otter eating the remnants of a big fish, it was being watched by a Hooded Crow and also a GBB Gull. The Crow gave and the gull was rewarded for its' patience with a fish head! The weather station, recorded a wind speed of 74.5mph last night at 23.10, nothing like as much as Stornoway and other places but noisy enough anyway! The ferry came and went midday today with the plane coming in this morning and again this evening, a bit late but at least it made it!

Thursday 8th January

On Tuesday, close too the Visitor centre at Gruinart, Mary saw a female Bullfinch. While out on the moorland, she managed to flush a Hare, 5 Snipe as well as a Merlin. She also had a distant ringtail. On her way home last night, Mary saw another ringtail down at Uiskentuie. As I write this evening, as forecasted, the wind is starting to pick, wonder what the largest gust will be in the next 24 hours? The ferry is already cancelled for tomorrow morning. It was windy here today and Martin headed out on the ferry and said it turned out to be quite a calm crossing!