Wed 30th Sept

James's count for today tallied through at 6,695 Barnacle Geese, 185 Pale bellied Brent Geese, 1 Canada Goose hutchinsii sp, 4 Pink footed Geese & 5 Greenland

Whitefronted Geese. Most of the Geese arrived this afternoon, rather than in the morning. The Whoopers that were here yesterday, took off for Ireland this morning, with no new birds coming in. James also had a flock of 265 Linnet, while Jack Fleming, James's boss here on Islay, had 4 Jack Snipe amongst the Snipe on the floods. All the above birds were on the reserve at Gruinart.

Back over this side of Islay, and there were 3 Whoopers in this morning at Ballinaby as well as 11 Whitefronts amongst a very large flock of Greylags, needless to say they all took off before I could get a count of the Greylags! This afternoon, down at Rockside there were 24 Whooper Swan, consisting of 20 adult and 4 young. There were fewer geese to be seen today along at Sunderland. Just at Rockside road end, there were around 150 Linnet and coming back in, at the Coastguard cottages, there were 50 Twite. Back home there was a flock of 45 Rock Doves on the wing.

The 4 Arctic Terns were still to be seen at Bruichladdich, and George has had some Teal returning to his ponds beside his house over the past few days.

Tues 29th Sept

Another month almost in, apologies for no entry last night, but for some reason the computer was playing up, so here goes.

Me first, I was busy at home today before nipping over to Bowmore late in the afternoon. Down on the young grass field at Rockside and I had my first Whooper Swans of this Autumn, 12 in number. Another first, and down at Sunderland there were 45 Greenland Whitefronted Geese, 3 Barnacle Geese along with 55 Greylags. It was good to see all the Geese together, as one could easily see the difference between the Greylags and the Whitefronts.

George had 4 Arctic Terns on the rocks on the shore down at Bruichladdich today, and he also reported in to say that his House Martins are still with him.

Onto James. He beat us all with 43 Whoopers on Loch Gruinart, 1890 Barnacle Geese, 5 Whitefronts and 348 Pale bellied Brent Geese. He also had 23 Black tailed Godwits, a Water rail, a Sparrowhawk, and a single Greenland Wheatear. James also commented on more waders coming in too, mainly flying in quite high.

The weather possibly has not been that great, but certainly it has brought some new birds in!

Sun 27th Sept

James has been away for a few days through the week, down to Dumfries & Galloway. On the ferry, on the way there, he had a couple of Bonxies along with lots of young Kittiwakes as well as Manx Shearwaters. Before he went, he had a Whimbrel fly over his house! While on the mainland, James had a Yellowhammer, a couple of Great spotted Woodpeckers and heard a Nuthatch calling.

Back home today, and on the reserve at Gruinart this morning, James had a count of 208 Pale bellied Brent Geese, a single Grey Wagtail, 205 Bar tailed Godwits, 8 Black tailed Godwits and also a Merlin.

Sat 26th Sept

If you want to know about the weather today, please refer back to Monday's entry as it was similar to that entry! No doubt Michal will not be having the same problem out on Aride in The Seychelles, he certainly will not have the need for turning the central heating on! Aye, the nights are creeping in.....

Coming home from the Indian Curry night at Ballygrant this evening, (a really good night by the way) we had a Barn Owl at Esknish, a couple of Hedgehogs on the road at different places, one of which was a fast mover, getting off the road quick style! Finally, there was a mouse caught in the car headlights before hopping into the verge out of our way.

Fri 25th Sept

Forgot to include yesterday, the sighting of 5 Swallows on the overhead wires at the start of the guided walk.

On to today, this afternoon coming back up from Bruichladdich, there was a ringtail Hen Harrier out hunting, putting all the small birds up. Less than half a mile further on along the road and we saw a male Hen Harrier out hunting too. Back home, mid afternoon there was a young Buzzard sitting on the crag, not doing anybody any harm, when along came a Peregrine, and on its second attempt managed to dislodge the Buzzard off its' perch. The Buzzard flew off, and the Peregrine had its' territory back to itself again, no doubt awaiting the Rock Doves to appear!

Thurs 24th Sept

Thursday again, and today is the day we go to help out at Gruinart with the guided walk, and today it was Catherine who led the walk. From the platform we were able to spot around 50 Pale bellied Brent Geese on the estuary, while from the hide we saw a few Bar tailed Godwits, some Mallard, several Heron and a solitary Moorhen as well as a Snipe flying off. Further on and down below Gruinart Farm, we had good sightings of waders fairly close at hand, mainly Dunlin, Oystercatcher, a few Sanderling and some Redshank too. Another group of 12 Brent Geese arrived in as we were there.

Wed 23rd Sept

George Jackson and his wife Megan had been over on Jura today. They had seen 2 White tailed Sea Eagles when looking back to Islay, both birds had yellow wing tags, so probably the same two birds that Donald James had seen last week. Just past Craighouse, George and Megan had an Otter eating a crab close to hand!