Friday 30th November

Another rather windy day, but today there have been some showers of hailstones in the mix, which causes quite a racket in noise when clattering against the windows etc....

Not much on the bird front today, but we saw a ringtail Hen Harrier quartering its patch over below Carnduncan, down towards Loch Gorm. Coming round past Ballinaby, there were only a handful of geese present, certainly not the larger numbers present as seen yesterday!! Back at home, here all the wee birds have been busy eating on the feeders, including the 2 Brambling.

Thursday 29th November

On the weather front for starters, the ferry has sailed back and forward all day, with the 3 scheduled return trips sailing, although they started out 2 hours ahead of the timetable which has turned out to be a wise decision as the wind is picking up already again. I believe that the first return sailings tomorrow are already cancelled !!!

Bob along with Derek had carried out the goose count on the Rhinns today on the Farm counts. Apart from the geese counted, they also had seen  a Peregrine, a Merlin and 3 different Kestrels. Up at the mast above Kilchiaran, they saw a female Snow Bunting. This morning, on our way over to Gruinart, we saw a Stonechat  on the gorse bushes  at the roadside below Sue Campbell's croft. There were quite a few geese seen at Ballinaby and just after Leek we had a male Hen Harrier fly across the road in front of us. As we returned from Gruinart , just before "Canada" ( a field!!) at Sunderland a ringtail was out on the wing as well. Back at home, this morning a Goldfinch struck one of our house windows, so I went out and lifted the  bird and put up in the shelter beside the house out of the wind, and shortly afterwards it flew off none the worse. Later on, this afternoon we had 2 different ringtail Hen Harriers fly past while 2 Bramblings were present amongst the ever increasing Chaffinch flock down eating the food on offer.

Wednesday 28th November

Well, if I thought that the weather over here was not the best, today it has not been that great, the wind has blown consistently strong all day, no ferries came or went and I am not sure as too whether the service planes came or not.
The net result is that not much news on the bird front. Today, with the weather being poor, I fed the birds on the ground rather than in the feeders..

Tuesday 27th November

Yesterday, while out past Ardbeg towards Claggain Bay, visiting birders from Bury in Lancashire, Diane and David Wright had seen a White tailed Eagle fly overhead in a clear blue sky.

Today, is a different day with 4 of the 6 ferries cancelled out, but both the flights came through from Glasgow fine....A rather windy day to be polite on that front... On the way home from the Bird nerds meeting in Bowmore this evening, David Barr spotted a Barn Owl watch us as he drove home. It was on top of the fence at Pennycraig. David Wood's talk on his recent trip to Mauritius was well received by 20 folk who came along to the monthly catch up of the Bird nerds. As normal there is no meeting in December but we will meet again in January for our annual Dinner, so watch this space....

Monday 26th November

Armin took this image taken yesterday of a couple of Whooper Swans from one of the hides at Gruinart. There were another 4 Whoopers there as well, but they took off and all 6 flew onwards... He also had a ringtail Hen Harrier which flew past him several times. Also present were a couple of

Roe Deer away out grazing on the floods with the ducks and the geese.

Bob was up today, and last week while out on the goose counts had seen an Iceland Gull in the middle of over 200 Herring Gulls over at Coull. Up at Sanaigmore, the same day, he had a Merlin and also a Kestrel. Mandy lately has been seeing a Kestrel, on a regular basis over below her house at Carnduncan. 

Sunday 25th November

David Livingstone had been down on the driving range on the golf course over at The Machrie today and had to share the facilities there with the 4 cheeky Choughs which seemed to be unfazed by David's presence.... David also commented on how close the Choughs were to the actual Hotel complex itself!!!

James had a Sparrowhawk over at Kilchiaran today and he also told me that the Little Egret is still to be seen on the reserve at Gruinart. The female Brambling was still present in the highly mobile flock of Chaffinches up at home. Mobile, yes, who can blame them with Hen Harriers that float past quite often or equally common a visitor, the Sparrowhawk!!!

Saturday 24th November

This morning, a quick scan through the Chaffinch flock outside here at home, and I saw a female Reed Bunting and also a female Brambling. The day got better and this afternoon, we saw a male Hen Harrier quarter over the garden on 4 different occasions, and fortunately the bird never did drop down on any prey. The weather has ben a bit on the cool side but when you see these birds, just wrap up and keep warm. Oh yes, it was dry too...

If you are over on Islay, please remember to come along to David Wood's illustrated talk on his recent trip to Mauritius. The bird nerds will be meeting on Tuesday at 7 pm and David's talk will be the main thrust of our meeting which will be held at the Gaelic College, on the outskirts of Bowmore. There will be an admission charge of £1 per person to help pay for the room hire...