Sunday 31st March

Another month almost up, wonder what the rain tally will be for the month, will it be more or less than last year, you will just have read the blog tomorrow night to find out! Earlier on this week, George had a Collared Dove being nobbled by a Sparrowhawk down at his house at Bruichladdich. 2 large Canada Geese were also seen up close to Craigens over at Loch Gruinart, around the middle of the week. Back on Monday, Bob had 40 Wood Pigeon at Whin Park down at Bridgend. Today as we headed from Bridgend up to Mulindry, a male Hen Harrier flew along side us for a few moments, no more than 20 feet away, with those piercing eyes, fantastic!

Saturday 30th March

Wally and Jude left for home the other  day, but before they left they a juv Golden Eagle and then later on a further 2 Golden Eagles. The Bolton Birders, Chris and Tony Johnson have also headed home. Yesterday, down close to the wee lochans beside Loch Gorm they saw a Merlin and close to Coal Ila  a Kestrel was present. Over on Jura, they had 3 ringtail Hen Harriers up at Lowlandman's Bay. Stonechats were seen in several places on Jura, near Feolin, close to the side of the road at Lowlandman's Bay and also on the edge of the Corran Sands. 4 GND were in the Feolin area with another off Lagg. Woodcock were seen in the woods close to Jura House. An otter was watched for the best part of an hour just after they landed on Jura with another later on, up beyond Craighouse. Many thanks to Wally and Jude along with Chris and Tony for sharing their sightings with us. Today, Dave and Emma had a count of 27 Whoopers flying up the Cornabus valley flying over towards Loch Indaal and possibly further on.

Friday 29th March

A wee teaser for you all, a couple of Magpies, taken earlier on today. To put you out of any early excitement, the image was sent through by old friend Armin Grewe, but not taken on Islay but close to home down in Berkshire with his big new lens! 

Bob the other day had been over at Laggan Point and noticed that some of the Shags have been nest building although none are actually sitting as of yet. Yesterday, the Bolton birders had a Sparrowhawk fly across the road into Bridgend Woods. Up in the woods at Ballygrant, they had seen a Treecreeper, a Long tailed Tit along with a Goldcrest. On Lilly Loch 2 Whooper Swans, 2 Tufted Duck, 1 Little Grebe and 4 Heron were present. Loch Allan held 1 Goldeneye and 3 Heron while down at Coal Ila 2 Black Guillemot were seen in summer plumage. Off Sanaigmore 3 GND were present while in the fields, Meadow Pipits and Skylark were there. Golden Plover were seen at Craigens and also at Ballinaby. There was a reported sighting of a Snowy Owl over on Jura yet, but we have not heard reports of it today. David and Jane Griffiths saw a Dipper on the River Sorn yesterday with a Wren nearby.

Thursday 28th March

On Tuesday, on her way home, on Jura, Louise had a Short eared Owl down towards Ardfin, the first she has seen for a while. Yesterday, Dave mustered the troops from the Oa and Gruinart reserves plus Bob and Martin. Together, they carried out a cliff survey on the Oa reserve with the highlights being 3 Golden Eagle, 1 imm White tailed Sea Eagle, 1 Merlin, 3 Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Peregrine, pr Red Grouse, Snipe, Woodcock and  4 Chough. Offshore they had a pod of 6 Bottle nosed Dolphin. Today, through the office window on the Oa, Dave had a imm White tailed Sea Eagle, a Golden Eagle and also a Peregrine. This afternoon, out from smelly corner we had over 40 Whoopers resting up and at least 50 Shelduck to be seen there too. On one of the wee ponds nearby there was a pr of Moorhen present.

Wednesday 27th March

Yesterday, Malcolm had a Barn Owl out hunting at 14.30 just opposite the Gaelic College at Bowmore.  Also yesterday, Bob Young had a Buzzard mobbing a Golden Eagle up at Ardnave. Later on, over at Killinallan, Bob had a White tailed Sea Eagle being initially being mobbed by a Gull and then by a Shelduck! Coming home last night, we had a few single Woodcock taking off at the "edge" of our car lights along the flats at Gruinart and up towards the former Kilchoman school.The Bolton birders today had started the day off with 2 Razorbill and a GND at Saligo. Ardnave Loch held 6 Tufted Duck, 2 female Goldeneye, 1 Red breasted Merganser, 2 Mute Swan, 25 Teal, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Lapwing. While out round Ardnave Point, a juv. White tailed Sea Eagle was seen flying in from the North, and later on a Golden Eagle flew across from the other side of Loch Gruinart. 45 Chough were seen tumbling around in the sky close to Traigh Nostaig. On the ground there were 22 Twite, and on the shore 6 Sanderling and 10 Ringed Plover. 3 large Canada Geese were seen up towards Ardnave Point. 12 Eider were counted off Nave Island with 1 Snipe at the Lobster ponds. Over close to Killinallan gate, a ring tail Hen Harrier was present and later on another was close to Sunderland Farm. Down on the Sound of Islay, Mick and Edmund had a White tailed Sea Eagle and soon after a Golden Eagle as well.

Tuesday 26th March

Late entry folks as just back in from the bird nerds, the date may be should have read the 27th but not quite but almost. Short entry, here goes.... The Bolton Birders had been over towards Bunnahabhain today. Highlight definitely was seeing 2 prs of Golden Eagles probably both at the edge of their territories. Out on the Sound of Islay, 5 GND were noted as were Black Guillemot, Shags, and Red breasted Merganser as well as an Otter! The Iceland Gull was present down off Bunnahabhain itself. Finlaggan held 2 Mistle Thrushes along with Song Thrushes, Blackbirds and some Robins. They counted 18 Pale belied Brent Geese down at Gortan on their way home. They also had a White tailed Sea Eagle over towards Port Askaig. They had also seen 6 Redwing and 6 Fieldfare in the field alongside their cottage. Buzzards were seen through their whole day!

Monday 25th March

Here on Islay, the electric board boys are winning the battle, with praise coming from all around. It is still rather cool, think the phone lines will take longer to restore as they do not appear to have the same number of back up crews...The Bolton birders had seen 24 Oystercatcher, 12 Twite and 6 Redwing in a field over at Ardtalla. In Ardtalla Bay, they had 8 Red breasted Merganser, 2 Mute Swan, 4 Eider, 4 Shelduck and 6 Turnstone. On Loch Indaal, just out of Bowmore, 8 Pale bellied Brent Geese and a female Goldeneye were present. Coming home, they counted 70 Teal at Carnain with 2 Mute Swan in the pools there. Along the flats at Gruinart, a male Stonechat was seen, and at Ballinaby the Golden Plover, Ringed Plover and Lapwing were still there from yesterday, but today 6 Whoopers were also there along with 22 Curlew. Betweeen Saligo and Coull, a Barn Owl was out early at 6.15pm! Finally at Coull roadend, they counted 46 Curlew. Today Mick saw a Dipper at the mouth of Glen Logan on the Sound of Islay. Wally and Jude had a Greenshank and their first Barwit (this visit) over past Bun an Uillt. They also reported that another visitor saw a White tailed Sea Eagle over close to Port Ellen. James had a juv. WTSE over at Gruinart yesterday and later on a Peregrine Falcon over his house. Early this evening James counted 10 Whoopers over at the ponds on the flats at Gruinart. I saw 2 Whoopers fly in from the sea heading towards Rockside around midday.