Thursday 11th September

 A further stormy day with occasional very heavy downpours between sunny spells.

Jim Dickson was up at Gruinart first thing this morning finding just one of the two Glossy Ibis present at Craigens. A total of 186 Brent Geese arrive into Loch Gruinart while there and Clive McK. added two further groups totalling 76 birds a little later. Other odd sightings of the morning were 2 Common Scoter in Loch Gruinart - not a common sight here and Clive's first. Jim had a Manx Shearwater far up into Loch Indaal at Carnain feeding along a stormy high tide line - very strange! Later in the morning, back at Gruinart, there was a female Marsh Harrier hunting alongside a juv male Hen Harrier, then 4 Ruff at Craigens, while Clive had an Osprey over Loch Gruinart at Bun an Uillt this afternoon. Jim took a look at Loch Gorm finding the first influx of Tufted Ducks (41 birds) and finished back at Gruinart where a partial count of Knot tallied at an impressive 205 birds.

This evening James H. was out birding Loch Gruinart and reports further large counts - 325 Teal, 14 Wigeon, two groups of terns - probably Arctic - totalling 40 birds passing through and 124 Brent Geese still on the loch.

Wednesday 10th September

A foul day of blustery SW winds and almost constant, often quite heavy rain showers. However, this didn't stop Jim Dickson from spending much of the day birding - albeit a lot of the time from the shelter of his car.  The 2 Glossy Ibis were still present in the same area at Craigens this morning and Jim counted 11 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Ruff, 1 Greenshank, 65 Redshank, 7 Little Egrets and 2 Arctic Terns in the Loch Gruinart area at about the same time. Later on Loch Indaal close to Blackrock he found a juv Little Stint and juv Curlew Sandpiper and dozens of "alba" -  mostly White - Wagtails. There were 2 more juv Little Stints and a Greenland Wheatear further up Loch Indaal at Carnain.

Later, back at Loch Gruinart Clive McK. noted 30 Black-tailed Godwits flying into the loch against a strong headwind and Jim returned there finding a very high count of 17 Curlew Sandpipers, a couple of golden Plover with a possible American ?Golden Plover which moved on before it could be confirmed. There were also 13 Pintails, 6 Greenshanks and a final tally of 66 Brent Geese for the day.

Being more of a "fair weather birder" myself, I stayed indoors today  - no such options for this male Sparrowhawk sat on my lawn outside, photographed by Jim as he visited to dry out late in the afternoon.

Tuesday 9th September

 Lots of blustery southerly winds bringing occasional rain - some of it heavy.

Steve & Lyn Rogers did their WeBS count at Loch an t-Salein near Kildalton finding 14 Curlew and 11 Red-breasted Mergansers and a probable Ruff amongst other species.

Jim Dickson came over to Islay, counting 6 Storm Petrels on the crossing, and confirmed that the 2 Glossy Ibis were still present at Craigens. He also notched a good selection of migrant waders on Loch Gruinart including 12+ juv Curlew Sandpipers and 1 juv Little Stint, followed by 6 Ruff and another juv Curlew Sandpiper at Carnain on Loch Indaal.

Malcolm O. reports that the massive and unprecedented arrival of Glossy Ibis continues, with a friend of his in Eire telling of a flock of 77 in County Cork!

Sunday 7th & Monday 8th September

Sunday saw strong winds from a southerly direction accompanied by rain in the morning gave way to brighter, drier weather in the afternoon. Monday was much brighter - dry and sunny with lighter SW breezes.

There were no reports of any birds yesterday until a message came through to James H. this morning of two Glossy Ibises seen yesterday afternoon just south of Craigens by visitor Bruce Taylor (picture below). Val P. and I went out this morning and found them still there, showing well in a very wet field of barley stubble - almost the exact same location as the last one seen on Islay in 2020. There have been just five previous Islay records, but today's birds are a northward extension of an unprecedented influx of the species into the UK at the moment, with over 359 sightings this week including numerous flocks of up to 30 birds. 

Other records from Gruinart today were 6 Little Egrets and 14 Brent Geese seen by us this morning and 2 Ruff, c.100 Lapwing, 2 Whimbrel, 3 Golden Eagles and single Sparrowhawk and Peregrine seen by James H..

Friday 5th & Saturday 6th September

 A couple of days of increasingly blustery weather with rain showers on mainly southerly, mild winds.

Yesterday Louise Muir noted a build up of Swallows (30-40) gathering at Craighouse on Jura. Gary T. had a Ruff and 4 Black-tailed godwits again at Gartmain. Clive McK. was on the other side of Loch Indaal at Carnain and did a fairly comprehensive count including 200 Greylag Geese, 74 Teal, 85 Oystercatchers, 100+ Ringed Plover, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 15+ Redshank, 40 Dunlin and 190 Common Gulls. Later in the day up at Bridgend Merse on Loch Indaal his count of Greylags went up to 500 along with 9 Mute Swans, 35 Wigeon, 140 Bar-tailed Godwits and 2 White-tailed Eagles.

Today Elliott Bowman sent in a splendid photo and video clip of a female Sparrowhawk tucking in to a Rock Dove or feral pigeon  that it had caught at Port Ellen:

Wednesday 3rd & Thursday 4th September

 A further mix of rain showers and sunshine over the past two days.

Yesterday Ed B. found 3 Greenland-type Wheatears at Cornabus and a flock of 50 Goldfinches feeding on soft rush seeds and Mary R. had a flock of 10 Brent Geese in Loch Indaal.

Today Gary T. was noting good numbers of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits and small flocks of Chaffinches, Reed Buntings, Goldfinches and Linnets at Finlaggan - another sign of autumn. Mary R. watched a White-tailed Eagle down at Ellister again while up at Loch Gruinart James H. counted a substantial 1530 Greylag Geese plus16 Brent Geese, single Canada Goose, 6 Little Egrets and 22 Black-tailed Godwits.

Monday 1st & Tuesday 2nd September

Weather still dominated by low pressure systems with southerly and south-westerly breezes bringing in rain between sunny spells.

In yesterday's rainy conditions, Elliott Bowman sent in videos of a family of young Swallows just fledged and sheltering from the rotten weather at mid Cragabus. Yesterday also saw the first arrival and passage of Pale-bellied Brent Geese. Clive McK. counted five groups totalling 215 at Gruinart then 200 more on a sea-watch at Frenchman's Rocks later (where he also noted 40 Turnstone, 5 Sanderling, 6 Red-throated Divers and 2 Great Skuas). James H. had a further 113 Brent Geese at Gruinart in the evening along with a flock of 155 Teal. Thus a likely minimum of 528 Brent Geese during the day - one of the higher daily counts. Ed B. at Cornabus had a Greenland-type Wheatear.

Today, Martin A. had an Osprey perched on a telegraph pole at Cnoc Fada on the east side of Loch Gorm. Gary T. saw the Kingfisher again at the top of Loch Indaal, a Sandwich Tern at Gartmain and a Buzzard taking an Adder along the road between Loch Gorm and Gruinart. Up at Ardnave, Gary T. had another Wheatear looking very "Greenland" and 2 White-tailed Eagles which then moved on to Loch Gruinart where there was a count of c.40 Bar-tailed Godwit. The White-tailed Eagle tally increased to an adult and 2 young at Gruinart later when Fiona McG. had 5 birds above Bruichladdich. James H. was on Gruinart during the day and added Peregrine, Barn Owl, 2 Little Egrets and 4 Curlew Sandpipers to the mix.

A few Brent Geese came though, though nothing like yesterday's tally: 26 at Loch Gruinart seen by Clive McK. and 38 on Loch Indaal seen by Fiona McG.