Tuesday 15th March

Another great day, long may it last... Today, had been the first day of the International goose Count, so we have got some sightings from round Islay from some of the counters involved, contributors to the blog at other times too... Malcolm had been on the Oa run today, and at Mid Cragabus, 2 immature White tailed Eagles were perched on top of fence posts, close to the road. Malcolm also saw a Pinkfooted Goose amongst some Whitefronts at Risabus. Bob had been on the Laggan/ Tallant run.  On the "Laundry Loch" up behind Laggan Farm, 5 Whoopers were present while down at Laggan Farm itself, a male Hen Harrier was seen. At Gartmain, a male Sparrowhawk was spotted while over at Cruach, 3 Pinkfooted Geese were there amongst the Whitefronts. Mandy and Fiona had been on the Kilmeny/ Bunnahabhain route. At Ardnahoe, they saw a Golden Eagle flying over towards Jura, and then a male Hen Harrier and shortly after a ringtail as they headed on to Bunnahabhain. Lesley yesterday had seen an Adder out basking in the sun as she walked out to the "Singing sands" out past Kilnaughton Bay. With the weather staying good again today, I took the chance to get the tractor out and made a start to preparing the 2 pieces of ground in readiness for sowing a  cover crop for the birds next winter. The big downside was the number of stones, one of the areas had very few stones, but the other piece certainly made up for it for sure....

Monday 14th March

Spring has sprung, what a great day it has been here, well worth the wait... Peter had 32 Whoopers flying North over Bruichladdich this morning, and later on over Loch Gorm, another 19 were seen by Peter, again flying North. Lesley Silcock had seen 5 Long tailed Ducks on Loch Indaal out from Kintra over at Port Ellen. Dave Wood saw the Red necked Grebe on Loch Indaal up at Bowmore at the back of the Lochside Hotel... John Wilson is back over for another Islay fix, great to see you John. He had seen a Golden Eagle, 2 Hen Harrier, 2 Chough and a flock of 63 Twite all on the Oa . To cap it all, we were able to show John 2 Peregrines through the scope, late afternoon,  not a bad day John! We took a quick trip round Loch Gorm and up to Ardnave. There were 12 Stonechats seen in total, with 8 seen by the time we got round to Ballinaby alone! On our way to Ardnave, there were a couple of Golden Eagle out on the wing soaring around. On Ardnave Loch itself, both Mute and a few Whooper Swans were present , 4 Goldeneye and some Tufted Ducks were present.  

Sunday 13th March

The weather here yesterday was rather miserable to put it mildly, hence no entry. I had heard a Song Thrush singing in a bush while I was doing old Len's peats and saw around 50 Fieldfare flying North down there too. Today, a different day, so Bob and myself carried out the WeBs count from Bowmore down to Gartbreck, so here are the birds that we saw, 11 GND, 10 Shag, 3 Cormorant, 5 Mute Swan, 99 Barnies, 28 Whitefronts, 45 Shelduck, 20 Mallard, 39 Wigeon, 40 Teal, 12 Common Scoter, 2 Goldeneye, 9 Eider, 40 R B Merganser, 74 Oystercatcher, 4 Curlew, 10 Barwits, 8 Redshank, 16 Knot, 150 Dunlin, 1 Tystie, 44 Lapwing, 4 Grey Plover, 2 Golden Plover, 30 Ringed Plover, 50 Turnstone, 6 Snipe, 8 GBB Gull, 6 LBB Gull, 20 H. Gull, 20 C. Gull and 48 BH Gull. On the actual gravel where the old farm steading at Gartbreck once stood were 20 Twite.

Friday 11th March

As predicted last night, the weather certainly did go downhill here today, turning out to be rather a dreich sort of a day, with a "wetting rain" for most of the day. The fields are just a muddy mess, yet again... In the hope of seeing something, we took our bins with us as we headed down to the shops in Bowmore for some retail therapy. Not much was bought in the shops and birding fared little better, but at Gartmain there were 12 Barwits, the odd Curlew and 35 Oystercatcher. Further round Loch Indaal, as we approached Blackrock, 14 Pale bellied Brents were present. The birds waiting to be fed at home looked rather bedraggled with the wet weather, but there again I suppose that you and I would look rather sorry if we had been out in the weather today!!!

Thursday 10th March

Think there is a change coming in with the weather, it has been a day or two since we had some rain... But before the rain  comes, we took a run round Loch Gorm and up to Sanaigmore... At Coull, there were 2 groups of  Curlews totalling 32 in all. Round at Ballinaby, in the fields, 12 Ringed Plover, 15 Lapwing and also 46 Skylark were present. Up in the sky, in the distance a Golden Eagle was being mobbed by 2 Buzzards. Coming back from Sanaigmore, a distant Golden Eagle was seen way out up towards Ardnave, a while later on, on the overhead wires, a small flock of 14 Fieldfare were. Bob last night had a Woodcock in his garden, infact it almost flew into him as it took off... This morning, he had 2 Dabchicks and 4 male Goldeneye on Loch Skerrols. 

Wednesday 9th March

Yesterday, Peter had gone over to Jura, but had not seen a lot there, but close to Craighouse, he had a Hen Harrier and then a count of 16 Canada Geese, presumably feral geese as Peter commented! Later on and back on Islay, the juv Glaucous Gull was picking over the last remains of a goose carcase! Further out on the Loch, around 60 Common Scoter and also 5 Long tailed Duck were present. Gary yesterday afternoon had a scan over Loch Indaal, from the pier at Bowmore. His birds were as follows 21 RB Merganser, 7 GND, 37 Eider, 8 Goldeneye, 2 male Scaup, 31 Common Scoter, 3 Cormorant and 7 Slavonian Grebe.

Tuesday 8th March

This afternoon from the pier at Bowmore, out on Loch Indaal, Gary saw 21 R B Merganser,7 GND, 37 Eider, 8 Goldeneye, 2 male Scaup, 31 Common Scoter, 3 Cormorant and also 7 Slavonian Grebe.