Sat 29th Nov

Must have been in another world yesterday, as I have just noticed that I had entered the wrong date for the entry, but I have amended it now! Still referring back to yesterday, and my comments about the Pale bellied Geese at the top of Loch Indall were blown out of the water today, as there were 35 at Bruichladdich today along with a few Purple sandpipers.... I had also heard that there were some Waxwings over in Bowmore through the week. Meanwhile the hills behind Bowmore and also the Paps of Jura had a good covering of snow, and it is rather cold as I write this entry.

On his way over here this afternoon, James had 17 Fieldfares and 45 Twite at another point.

Fri 28th Nov

This afternoon, there were 21 Pale bellied Brent geese down at Bruichladdich, so perhaps theses birds are the ones that overwinter here on Islay, as the other day there was a group of the same number over at Bowmore. Other winters they were seen at Blackrock, as well as down below the coal yard too. There had also been 13 Whooper Swans below Gartmain.Talking of Whoopers, Louise Gregory had seen a "near miss" between 3 low flying Whoopers and a car down at Carnain as she came her work the other morning. Coming back over from Gruinart yesterday, while going round Loch Gorm, we had a close sighting of a Kestrel out hunting.

Wed 26th Nov

Tracey and the team from SNH have sent through the latest goose figures for the counts on 18th and 19th November. The figures were as follows 40,501 Barnies and 5,688 Whitefronts. Thanks again folks for the figures!

Tues 25th Nov

The Chaffinches may have possibly moved on, at least there is certainly not the large flock that we had at the weekend. On the positive side today, there was a Grey Wagtail overhead, while down in the wood there were 15 Long tailed Tits.

James had done a Goose count on the reserve at Gruinart today, when his figures tallied out at 7,789 Barnies, 359 Whitefronts, 26 Greylags and 1 Canada, hutchinsii sp. One of the Whitefronts had a neck collar on. Other birds noted were a large Sparrowhawk, (not a Goshawk, I was told!),3 Gadwall, 172 Lapwing and a female Hen Harrier.

Mon 24th Nov

Talking about the numbers of Chaffinches yesterday, I forgot to say that normally we only have 15 - 20 max. I was just speaking with Andy Schofield, and he too had noticed a big influx of them too. He usually has about 30 birds on his feeders and this shot up to 150 - 160 yesterday afternoon. I was fortunate to get a brief glimpse of a Great spotted Woodpecker this afternoon, and later on James had seen a single Waxwing over at Gruinart.

Tracey and the team from SNH have started the Goose Counts. Just after they arrived, on 22-23 October the tallies were 43450 Barnies and 5665 Whitefronts, the count a fortnight later consisted of 37,602 Barnies and 5780 Whitefronts. Thanks for that info Tracey & co.

Sun 23rd Nov

Michal had been up Ardnave Loch yesterday and got this group of Whooper Swans, there were 7 in total. One day earlier on in the week, he had a tally of 21 there too.

This last week James has been commuting back and forward on and off Islay, so has had some sightings from the ferry, starting off with a Storm Petrel. In the Sound of Islay, he saw a Hen Harrier fly from Islay to Jura. There were plenty of both Red throated and Great Northern Divers to be seen. At Kennacraig itself, there was a 1st winter Iceland Gull, while at Kilmory in Lochgilphead, there were 20 Waxwings. Back on Islay, on the flats at Gruinart, James had the Canada Goose, hutchinsii sp., in amongst the Barnies.

Here at home today, with these cold blustery showers around, there were over 50 Chaffinches on the ground around the feeders.

Fri 21st Nov

It's all change time over here at present. We are home now, and Catherine should have made a start to her return from work in St Helena, initially starting back on a 5 day trip to Cape Town. As she too heads home, 2 of our other contributors head South. Malcolm Ogilvie is off on 2 trips to Antarctica, back to back, so Carol is left holding the fort! Stacey Adlard who wrote some entries from Oronsay earlier on, has just left for a 2 year stint in Antarctica. Another move that took place while we were away was that Louise Gregory who used to work for SNH, has now taken a post up here on Islay with the RSPB.