Thursday 16th, Friday 17th & Saturday 18th January

 Three days of fairly cloudy, but dry weather, with a light cool breeze. I was out with David Jardine briefly on Thursday morning, watching up at Killinallan we saw a Peregrine nip through and found 3 immature White-tailed Eagles sat on the flats, where c.65 Shelduck fed. 

On Friday David D. had a Merlin at Kinnabus.

Today, as David Jardine left he noted 14 Brent Geese on Glas Eilean, off Jura, while back on Islay Mary R. had a Dipper on the River Sorn at Bridgend and Clive McK. noted a decent number of Knot - 109 in total along with 70 Dunlin from Gartnatra on Loch Indaal.

Here in Bruichladdich Malcolm O. and I were trading Goldfinches! I had about 25 as usual on my feeders this morning until they'd eaten most of the food provided by about 1pm. At this time Malcolm O.'s feeders along the village about 300 m away suddenly had an influx of about 20 Goldfinches - smart birds! There were a further c.30 Goldfinches on Val Peacock's feeders at Port Charlotte, but whilst we assume that it is the same birds going back and forth in Bruichladdich, we also assume that Val's birds are different. It would be interesting to know how many Goldfinches are turning up regularly at other feeders around Islay - the total amount could be "the best part of a tidy few".

Tuesday 14th & Wednesday 15th January

Two days with moderately OK weather - light winds, cool but not freezing and with some good amounts sunshine.

Yesterday Ed B. down at Loch Cornabus found a 2CY Mediterranean Gull - only the 7th for Islay, all of them occurring since 2010.

Today David Jardine was over on Jura and reports 2 Brent Geese at Eilean Glas, 4 Greenshanks at Loch Tarbert. Fieldfares and Redwings present. Of most interest were singing Crossbills at Camas an Staca and Loch a' Mhuillin. Many of us might be familiar with the "chip-chip" flight calls that Crossbills make; their song is less often noted but sounds a bit like those "chip" calls, but with short trills added at the end. They are a very early breeding species and the conifers have a lot of cones this year to tempt them, so maybe we should all be out exploring Islay's plantation forestry to see if we can hear one - it is often the best suggestion/proof of nesting that you'll get.

Saturday 11th, Sunday 12th & Monday 13th January

The weather has changed back from cold, with crisp, fairly calm and sunny days, to fairly mild, damp and rainy with a bit more breeze.

Regardless of what the weather was doing, very few of us were out looking at birds. Mary Redman reported 4 Snipe at Claddach on Saturday. Clive McK. was at the top of Loch Indaal doing a WeBS count on a very rainy Sunday. He counted 26 Brent Geese and 12 Long-tailed Ducks near Blackrock where a couple of White-tailed Eagles dropped in and perched up.

Today David Jardine was on the ferry to Islay and scored 2 Little Auks SE of Texa (there were no records of Little auk for Islay last year). Later, at Bowmore he found a female Scaup and then 5 Goosanders on Loch Skerrols - there have only been 3 other records involving that many together on Islay. As I write this David has posted a photo of an even rarer bird - a Stock Dove with a flock of Wood Pigeons at Sunderland Farm (spot it in the photo below). There are just 12 accepted records for Islay from 1977 to 2022, with all but two birds seen since 2002. All records have been on the Rhinns or The Oa, nine of these being single birds, with groups of four and five seen at Sanaigmore in March 2015 and 2016. There are four records from February-March, two in June and five in September-October, plus an undated record from the 2007/08 to 2010/11 Winter Atlas.

Thursday 9th and Friday 10th January

Two days of cold northerly weather, but nice and sunny with light winds and probably the lowest temperatures of the winter so far.

On Thursday George Jackson noted a Red-throated Diver off Bruichladdich still sporting a red-throat of breeding plumage. Up at Blackrock, Fiona McG. took another look in lovely calm sea conditions and found 13 Long-tailed Ducks and 8 Red-breasted Mergansers.

Ed Burrell reported on a first recovery of a Snipe he ringed at Cornabus in December 2022 which had been shot at Cragabus on 7th January this year. He wondered whether it was a returning wintering bird or one of the local breeders?

The White-tailed Eagle pair were on Blackrock again yesterday, but not seen there by Clive McK. today. The cold weather has made the bird feeders very attractive with c.25 Goldfinch enjoying the free hand-out today in my garden.

Monday 6th, Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th January

Weather on Monday and Tuesday was variable with some cloud and icy showers between sunnier spells. There were no bird sightings for either day.

Today was brighter, sunnier, drier and calmer, but still quite cold. David D. reports a Blackcap over at Kinnabus (is it the same bird that had been over at Caol Ila in December?) and a Whooper Swan on the loch there. The calm waters of Loch Indaal encouraged Fiona McG. to take a look off Blackrock where 2 White-tailed eagles seem to be appearing regularly these days. On the waters around were 6 Long-tailed Ducks, c.8 Red-breasted Mergansers, c.6 Goldeneye and 11 Brent Geese. Mary R. had also been looking out over Loch Indaal in the morning where she noted a "huge pod" of dolphins splashing about off Octofad, from where they didn't seem to come any further up the loch.

Thursday 2nd, Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th January

Despite fairly pleasant, dry, sunny weather with light, but chilly winds from a more northerly direction (while lots of other places across the UK were inundated with snow and rain), there has been very little in the way of birding going on here on Islay - hence the long, 4 day silence.

On Thursday 2nd, visitor Anne Mehler had a Long-tailed Duck near Blackrock, plus c.50 Common Scoter. 

On Friday 3rd, Anne saw a White-tailed Eagle in the Sound between Islay and Jura as she departed. Also on the 3rd,  George Jackson had a quick look at Loch Skerrols at about mid-day, finding  a single male Goldeneye and single Moorhen, but there were only 7 Tufted Ducks, plus c.30 Mallard and Teal.

The bird feeder here in Bruichladdich and at Val Peacock's in Port Charlotte has been attracting a female Sparrowhawk regularly over the past few days - whether it is the same bird I've no idea.

Today, Mary R. had a Buzzard on the shoreline at Bruichladdich (where Malcolm O. watched an otter having breakfast) followed by a pair of adult  White-tailed Eagles perched on Blackrock itself.  Malcolm was out at Craigens on Loch Gruinart and counted 1,280 Golden Plover, 450 Dunlin and 180 Lapwing, all in the same damp pasture.

I walked up to Ballimony from Octofad this afternoon and watched a couple of Choughs followed by a further group of 7, all flying from the coast near Octofad inland along the edge of the forestry, with 5 turning back. I wonder what they were doing or where they were going..............

Tuesday 31st December 2024 & Wednesday 1st January 2025

 The last day of the year was another of unpleasant weather, but the New Year started brilliantly with, for much of the day, clear blue skies, dry and with light winds. But the wind had turned to a northerly, so it was decidedly colder than the previous couple of weeks.

The last bird records of 2024 were a male Hen Harrier seen by Pete Twist at Ballymeanach, a Greater Scaup still on Loch Skerrols noted by Ed B.. Mary R. saw 3 Gannets plus a few Kittiwakes off Frenchman's Rocks and a Peregrine nearby. I did a walk from the Woollen Mill to Daill House and found a flock of 16 Siskin and a scattering of 4 Bullfinches.  

Other late 2024 news includes a photo from Ed B. taken on a thermal imager of no less than 8 Woodcock feeding in an open field at Cornabus after dark a couple of days ago - a further clear indication of how incredibly under-recorded this species is. Malcolm O. sent in a Facebook post from Billy Stitchell saying that his male Blackcap which had been present on his feeders now for a couple of weeks has moved on, but he does have two Greenfinches present along with the more common bird table species.

The first records from Islay for 2025 are from the RSPB Gruinart hides where James H. and I watched for a while this afternoon. I counted the usual group of 38 Whooper Swans, while James H. recorded 2 Golden Eagles, 1 White-tailed Eagle, 2 Hen Harriers, 95 Dunlin, 7 Snipe and 2 Woodcock. James also managed to find the Green-winged Teal for me!

Louise Muir sent the first note from Jura - a photo of a Ban Owl on a garden fence at Craighouse.

WISHING ALL BLOG READERS A HAPPY, HEALTHY BIRD-FILLED 2025