Tues 30th Oct

The late sightings of the Hobby continues, with it being seen this morning, having a tussle with a Ringtail (female Hen Harrier), before flying off into the shelter/protection offered in some trees. GDY

Down on the guided walk at on the RSPB reserve on The Oa, the bird watchers were graced with 6 Merlin, 5 Golden Eagle, several chough and the sighting of a pod of Bottle Nosed Dolphins. RAS

Mon 29th Oct

On Islay recently, there have been more numerous sightings of Merlin. A Golden Eagle was observed being mobbed by 2 Buzzards, before flying off. IKB & RAFOS

There was another sighting of a possible Hobby this afternoon, possibly the same bird that was seen over at Port Ellen last week. RAFOS

126 Whooper swan were at the head of Loch Gruinart, while inland, also at Gruinart there were 2 Lapland Bunting. Also there have been several small groups of Whooper flying south to Ireland, the largest number being 20 offshore at Machir Bay. JRH

Sun 28th Oct

Another week on Islay is past, so here are few notes....

Possibly the highlight of the week was this Little gull, a 1st winter bird heading south along the shore at Bruichladdich on Thurs 25th.

Barnacle geese appear to have had a reasonable breeding season, with around 11% of the flock being juvenlie birds, enough to give a small increase in numbers. Some intresting rings observed through the week, more than usual from both Ireland (caught by David Cabot on the Inishkea Islands) and Sutherland (caught by Carl Mitchell & the Highland Ringing Group at Durness), would indicate a good number of "passage" birds present on Islay. No new Svalbard birds this time but a couple of the regulars from there that seem to have moved permantly to the Islay population.

The number of White-fronted geese are low, are they possibly still in Iceland? No collars were read at all.

Canada Geese, at least 5, have been seen at various locations throughout the island.

An Arctic Tern was seen offshore from Bruichladdich on Monday 22cd, and also 3 Swallow heading south at Port Ellen. A Siskin was over at Coullabus on Tues 23rd, and there was 2 separate sightings of Golden Eagle, one an immature, the other an adult bird at different locations.

The Bar- headed goose was with the Barnacle Geese over at Finlaggan on Wed 24th. Also that day was a late Greenland Wheatear at Gruinart. SP

Fri 26th Oct- Sat 27th Oct

Over at RSPB, Loch Gruinart reserve here on Islay, the following birds were seen, 2 Hen Harriers, 1 Merlin, 20 Pintail, 2 Pale Bellied Brent Geese, 153 Golden plover, 205 Lapwing, 302 Fieldfare, 357 Whitefronts and 1 Polecat ferret! Off reserve, and a Barn Owl was seen out hunting. JRH
A Little Gull was seen off Bruichladdich and whilst scanning through the numerous Barnacle Geese, 7 Canada Geese were spotted, 6 Hutchinsii and 1 Parvipes which was along with 2 Hybrids. The Bar headed Goose is still around, having been seen at the top of Loch Indaal and more recently at Finlaggan along the other geese. There have been several other sightings on the mainland, are they all escapees or what? SP

Tues 23rd Oct - Thurs 25th Oct

Around 100 Golden Plover and about the same number of Lapwing (Green Plover/Peewit) were over at Killinallan on Monday. MMcC

On Tuesday over at Ardnave, 7 Purple Sandpipers were noted, along with 1 Bar tailed Godwit, 10 Turnstone, 25 Chough, 60 Herring Gull, 60 Common Gull, 10 Eider and 15 Teal.
The influx of Fieldfare and Redwing continues, now on the West of Islay, but not on passage or in such numbers as reported previously. MS

On Monday, there were 5 Swallow over Kilnaughton Woods, and there was a bird of prey over the wood possibly a Hobby in company with the swallows. The bird was very vocal and the features noted could point to a Hobby, has anyone else seen it? There was a male Grey Wagtail feeding on the edge of a silage pit at Claggan Bay. On the way home , 17 Whooper swan were at Gartmain.
Tuesday, on the sea off Saligo there was a single Long tailed Duck, while up at Ardnave Loch there were Pochard and Goldeneye along with the Tufted Duck.
Wednesday produced 52 Teal down on the lochans beside Loch Gorm. There were also 2 Pink footed Geese amongst the Barnacle Geese at Kilchoman. Also noted were a pair of Whooper with 4 juvs. There was a dead juv whooper under the power lines at Rockside.
Late entries on Thursday included Jack Snipe and 2 separate sightings of Treecreepers, all in the Kilchoman area. C & TJ
Thursday produced 2 Little Stint at Carnain while inland a lot of Siskins have arrived. RAS

Sun 21st Oct - Mon 22nd Oct

25 Whooper Swans were seen flying south from the Loch Gorm area early Sunday morning. There was a further 26 on the spit at Gartmain, with several other small groups scattered around Loch Indaal. The 13 Pale Bellied Brent Geese are still to be seen at Blackrock.
There was a single Shelduck along with 12 Pintail at Bridgend.
A Merlin was seen over the head of Loch Gruinart while there were 52 Rock Doves on a ruined roof nearby. On the shoreline on the east side of Gruinart there were 185 Golden Plover, 38 Sanderling, 1 Dunlin and 10 Ringed Plover. At Bun-an-Uillt there was a Long Tailed duck offshore.
Back at Loch Skerrols there was a Mute Swan with 4 juv.
On Mon. at the head of Loch Gruinart a single Grey Plover was seen amongst Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Redshank. The sight of thousands of Barnacle Geese coming in to roost at Gruinart was a sight not to be missed.
2 Mute Swans with 2 juv. at Bunnahabhain were seen at mid day. C.&T.J.

Thurs 18th Oct - Sat 20th Oct

This is an image of 2 Whooper Swan,taking off from Loch Gorm. Unfortunately, I was unable to get an image of the group of 150 over at Gruinart before they left! MAB


An otter was obseved at Bruichladdich, the first since the 1st of August. Out on the Loch there were 5 Red throated Divers, while inland there were 8 Snipe and 4 Teal on the Pools. GJ


A brief summary of the Corncrake survey for 2007.......
The survey of Corncrakes on Islay in summer 2007 showed a further increase in numbers from previous years. This year, the total number of calling males was 69, which is 10 more than 2006, and 17 more than in 2005. The majority of the calling males were found on the Rhinns of Islay, with the highest concentration of calling males was again on Gruinart Flats, there were 16 calling males on the RSPB Loch Gruinart Reserve.
Thanks to the Corncrake Initiative Scheme and the willingness of the farmers, most of the silage fields adjacent to where calling corncrakes were heard, were either cut after 1st August, some of them even after 1st September, with most fields being cut in a corncrake friendly manner, i.e. from the centre out, rather than from the outside in. By cutting in this way, this should help the survival of the chicks as they would tend to go to the outside edges of the field being mown, which hopefully will increase the number of corncrakes on Islay in future years. MS





A Merlin was seen over the moorland on Friday, with a single Snow Bunting also seen in the same location later on that day. MS


On Saturday morning there was another noticeable passage of around 4,000 Fieldfares over the South East of Islay, while over on the East we are only seeing the odd one or two, as well as a few Redwing. RAS