Wednesday 31st March 2010

The island has taken a beating from the weather over the last 36 hours, with continuous rain, then snow, with very strong cold north winds. The effect of the weather today has been: some snow, lots of flooding and no electricity for a large part of the island (most of the Rhinns). Luckily for the birds it is such a late Spring, that none of the breeding waders had started to lay eggs and hopefully the flooding will subside to allow them to get back on territory.

Whooper swans have been hitting the news again, with migration struggling to get underway. Two whooper swans radio tagged at Martin Mere have been on the move, with Gordon managing to get to Iceland over a 5 day period stopping off on Tiree for a break. The other bird Tony has made it to Islay and decided to wait out the weather. We haven't found Tony, but he should be out there somewhere.

Whooper swans have been in evidence today with 18 at Ardnave Loch. At Gruinart 2 merlins were seen hunting in windy conditions and the little egret was still present. On Loch Indaal near the Uiskentuie strand GJ spotted 3 wheatears, 2 stonechats, 1 greenshank and 23 turnstones.

Tues 30th March

The old saying that "March comes in like a lamb and out like a lion", is certainly holding true. Today has been a day for staying inside, there was a steady rain through the day, but this evening it turned to sleet/slush and now at 10pm it is snow, not too nice, and the wind is up too. The Colonsay sailing has already been cancelled for tomorrow!

Back to birds, and Malcolm had seen a Wheatear along with a Fieldfare close to the water works up the back of Port Charlotte when he was out Goose counting today.

Chris & Tony Johnson were in contact to say that two of the "radio tagged" Whooper Swan from Martin Mere had headed North, with one stopping off on Islay, and the other on Tiree.

Paul Hathaway had seen 12 Siskin down in the wood at Bridgend over the weekend.

Mon 29th March

Another great image through from Danny Arnold, taken last week. The question put to me by Danny was, "Should it not be wrestling Hares, rather than boxing Hares?" We will just have to get some "boxing Hares" for Danny!

Louise was in touch to say that she too had some Siskins on her bird feeders over the weekend, as well as a couple of Goldfinch. On her way to work, as she was on the ferry from Jura to Islay she saw a White tailed Sea Eagle over the Sound of Islay.

Another good piece of news today is that Michal Sur has returned from his 6 month stay on The Seychelles. So it will be good to catch with him and see some of his images. Come to think of it I doubt if Michal will think much of the weather that is forecast for the next day or two!

Sun 28th March

This is an image of a Mottled Grey moth that was caught by Danny Arnold.

Today, we saw our first Wheatear round at Ballinaby, I had been looking at other places where I had seen them in previous years, but the Balllinaby sighting was the only one today.

Down at Bruichladdich, directly in front of the Distillery, were 6 Purple Sandpiper and a few Rock Pipit. Back up near to the coal yard were 9 Pale bellied Brent on the eel grass, on Loch Indaal 8 Red breasted Merganser were close to the shore with a pair of Great Northern Diver further offshore Some of the Common Gull appear to be pairing up and at prospective nest sites. It is quite noticeable that a lot of the Greylags have paired up and starting to be split off from the groups that are still present. Although not having seen any hares boxing so far, there were 10 together at one field and then 2 groups of 6 in other fields, as well as another group of 8 in a different field.

Sat 27th March

Danny Arnold who had been over for the past week, has now migrated South again, but before he left Danny had seen a Wheatear yesterday round at Saligo. Through the week he felt that he had seen an increase in the numbers of Stonechats seen round Loch Gorm, and also good sightings of Reed Buntings. In his moth trap, one night he had a Mottled Grey Moth.

Paul and Louise Holinrake from Orkney were the tour leaders over with a group of birders and have sent us in contributions this past week too. By all accounts they had all enjoyed their stay here on Islay. Many thanks to Danny, Paul and Louise for their input.

Over at Gruinart today, and James had a Whimbrel. Down in Bridgend Woods this morning and Paul Hathaway had a pair of Bullfinch, and this evening had seen a Barn Owl out on the wing.

At Bruichladdich, and Malcolm had 22 Pale bellied Brent Geese this morning, and this afternoon 7 Whooper Swan flew up Loch Indaal. There were 2 separate parties of Whooper Swan on Loch Gorm, the larger group had 49, and the other totaled only 8! In one of the fields here at home there were a pair of Red legged Partridge.

Fri 26th March

Catherine had carried out a count on Loch Gruinart the other day and the totals were as follows, 286 Oystercatcher, 54 Turnstone, 145 Curlew, 144 Shelduck, 8 Sanderling, 8 Ringed Plover, 515 Dunlin, 13 Red breasted Merganser, 2 Eider, 6 Redshank, 3 Great black backed Gull, 1 Lesser black backed Gull, 21 Black headed Gull, 13 Knot, 2 Mallard, 252 Bar tailed Godwit and 77 Wigeon. Many thanks Catherine for the figures.

Today, Ewan one of the vols at Gruinart, had seen 2 Wheatear and also an Otter while up at Ardnave.

Thurs 25th March

It was great to hear that the female Osprey has returned to Loch of the Lowes, another sure sign that Spring is just round the corner. I have also noticed a few more lesser Black backed Gulls flying around, no doubt on the lookout for a sheep that may "couped" on it's back or for a weakly lamb.

Down in the field beside the Coastguard cottages today, the "congregation" of Golden plover were present and it was good to see that the majority of them were starting to show their summer plumage.

James had seen the Little egret out in front of the hide this afternoon and also a male Gadwall, he also reported that more Shoveler were present, but he was not too sure of extra Teal around.