Tuesday 12th August

A hot sunny day with light winds.

Fiona McG. sent in a record of a flock of over 200 Linnets at Inver on Jura yesterday.

Gary T. started off today's records with yet another sighting of an Osprey up at Bridgend where he also spotted a couple of Wigeon on the outflow of the Sorn. A little later he noted 2 Golden Eagles, 4 Buzzards  and a Kestrel near Carrabus. He later did a WeBS count from Bowmore to Gartbreck finding a high count of 10 Greenshanks and a calling Water Rail.

Mary R. counted 5 Mistle Thrushes at Gearach and Clive McK. was also noting raptor activity up at Creag Mhor on Loch Gruinart with 2 adult and 3 juvenile Buzzards and a Peregrine circling on thermals overhead.

Sunday 10th & Monday 11th August

Weather for the last two days has been a mix of sunshine and showers with a moderate breeze at times.

Yesterday Steve & Lyn Rogers did a WeBS count at Loch an t-Sealain near Ardbeg finding 14 Curlews, 32 Greylags, 3 Herring Gulls, a Grey Heron, 3 Oystercatcher, 2 Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull 2, 12 Shags, 1 Red-breasted Merganser with 3 young, and a White-tailed Eagle.

On my return from the festivities for the 200th anniversary of the lighthouse on Orsay, I watched a pair of adult White-tailed Eagles gliding along the coast at Easter Ellister.

Today, Gary T. had 2 Little Egrets at the top of Loch Indaal near Bridgend while Clive McK. watched another near Traigh an Luig  towards the Bruichladdich end of the Uiskentuie strand.

Friday 8th & Saturday 9th August

Mostly sunny, but a few blustery showers with a westerly airstream.

Yesterday Gary T. commented on the first flocks of finches gathering for the autumn - a mix of over 100 around Gartbreck including Goldfinches, Linnets and Chaffinches. He also counted along the shore at Gartbreck from the dump to the farm: 79 Shags, 11 Cormorants, 80 Greylags, 3 Eider, 17 Curlew, 4 Whimbrel, 10 Redshank, 4 Greenshank, 83 Ringed Plovers, 21 Dunlin, 30 Sanderling and 7 Turnstone, 6 Greater Black-backed, 1 Lesser Black-backed, 19 Herring and 23 Common Gulls.

A later count at Machir Bay by Clive McK. produced 70 more Ringed Plovers and 40 Sanderlings. He also had a group of 8 Choughs (commenting that these didn't include any young fledged this year) couple of Sparrowhawks and a female Marsh Harrier over the Gruinart/Loch Gorm road. Earlier there were 18 Arctic Terns up at Loch Gruinart along with a single Golden Plover and 2 Knot.

Down at Cladville, Alistair Hart watched a ring-tail Hen Harrier braving the windy conditions.

Today Gary T. reported a male Hen Harrier near Finlaggan and 2 Golden Eagles on the Glen Road below Beinn Dubh and Clive McK. did an afternoon sea-watch from Frenchman's Rocks for a little over 3 hours from about 3pm. The more interesting observations were 40 Whimbrel and 16 Lesser Black-backed Gulls passing by and 12 Storm Petrels with 693 Manxies too.

Wednesday 6th & Thursday 7th August

Two more days of moderately blustery westerly weather with a mix of sunshine and showers.

There was some additional news from Tuesday from Clive McK. who noted the beginnings of the autumn passage of Lesser Black-backed Gulls with 61 passing through Loch Gruinart plus a dark phase Arctic Skua and some Kittiwakes and Gannets coming up the loch and turning back to sea again. Counts of waders on Loch Gruinart are also building up, with Clive counting 155 Oystercatchers and 32 Redshank, while in his garden there was a family of newly fledged Redpolls.

Wednesday produced observations from Gary T. of Mistle Thrush on berries at Ballygrant and Bullfinches much in evidence between Ardnahoe and Bunnahabhain, where he saw a White-tailed Eagle.

No observations for today, but a lovely photo to brighten up the blog, sent in by Christine Menzies of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth seen in her garden.

Tuesday 5th August

Strong winds from the WNW continued today in the aftermath of Storm Floris. There were blustery showers in the morning that gave way to brighter, sunny conditions later.

After Clive McK's successful seawatch yesterday, I tried my luck at Frenchman's Rocks from 0815 for 3 hours until 1115, joined by Alistair Hart for the last hour. Conditions in the first half weren't great, with stormy showers blowing in at times, But it was the first hour that held any interest - c.1,000-1,200 Manx Shearwaters zooming by, and 6 European Storm Petrels and 3 Arctic Skuas seen. After that the Manxies tailed off, and left a steady, small trickle of Kittiwakes (c.75), Fulmars (c.20) and auks (just c.15) passing through along with 3 Arctic Terns, and a few small flocks of waders - 20 Redshank, a couple of flocks of Sanderling totalling c.30 birds and the same for Oystercatchers.

Meanwhile, the possibility of a few seabirds inspired Jim Dickson to do a seawatch from the Kennacraig to Port Askaig ferry and back, He noted c.70 Manxies, 12 Kittiwakrs, 1 Fulmar, 2 Puffins, 2 Sandwich Terns plenty of Guillemots and Razorbills, with star attractions being 5 Storm Petrels, and singles of Great, Arctic and Pomarine Skua.

Sunday 3rd & Monday 4th August

A reasonable day's weather on Sunday but no bird sightings sent in. Today it was Storm Floris with very strong winds, though still mostly bright and sunny after rain during the night. The worst of the storm seems to have been to our north, but there were strong westerly winds here that inspired Clive McK to try sea-watching off Frenchman's Rocks for 5 hours this morning from 11.15am. This brave and windswept venture produced some good results: 2 adult Sabine's Gulls together was the highlight along with a total of 68 Storm Petrels, a Sooty Shearwater and 13 Arctic Terns.

The Storm-petrel count is in the top 10 highest day counts recorded for Islay, and many of the other high counts were over longer periods of watching. There have only been about 50 previous Sabine's Gulls recorded.

Thursday 31st July, Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd August

Many thanks to Malcolm O. for writing the blog in my absence. Here are a few notes from the last few days:

On Thursday David D. recorded a juvenile Cuckoo at Lower Cragabus and Karim Labib watched a Golden Eagle on the Killinallan side of Loch Gruinart. Down at Cladville Alistair H. had several sightings of a ring-tailed Hen Harrier.

On Friday Gary T. was out and about finding a couple of Red-throated Divers near Blackrock in Loch Indaal, where, further up at the merse towards Bridgend he saw an Osprey sat on the sand, then heading towards Loch Skerrols. Later he watched a Hen Harrier hunting near Carnain and a White-tailed Eagle over Whin Park and then two perched up at Coullabus. Mary-Ann F. counted 10 House Martins over at Kildalton and Mary R. had a Great Spotted Woodpecker (harassed by a Buzzard) at Easter Ellister - there are few if any records of the woodpecker from that neck of the woods.

Today Gary had a Wigeon on the River Sorn at Bridgend - a slightly unseasonal record, hopefully not the start yet of the autumn/winter arrival! He also had a breeding-plumaged Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Greenshank in the same area.