Islay Birds

Friday 20th November to Tuesday 24th November 2009

2009-11-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have not managed to write a blog for a few days, because I have been busy sun bathing, or at least I would have been if the rain had stopped and the gales hadn't blown away my deck chairs. The weather has been stormy making wildlife watching difficult, however looking at the records I have; everyone must have been busy in the good spells.
On the 20th a Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Woodcock were all seen at Gruinart. On the 22nd there was another Woodcock and 2 Hen Harriers a male and female seen again at Gruinart. The 23rd was clear enough for a belated Webs count at Gruinart, the highlights included:
1360 Teal, 294 Wigeon, 4 Little Grebes, 2 Gadwall, 92 Shoveler, 40 Pintail, 6 Whooper Swans, all on the flooded fields.
137 Oystercatchers, 161 Curlew, 332 Bar Tailed Godwits, 74 Ringed Plover, 220 Lapwing, 690 Golden Plover, 99 Turnstone, 670 Dunlin, 5 Purple Sandpipers, 3 Greenshank, 40 Redshank and 4 Great Nothern Divers on the Sea Loch.
Also reported on the 23rd was an Arctic Skua on Loch Indaal (a late migrant) from Bruicladdich and also at Bruichladdich 100 Curlew and 6 Common Scoter (GJ).
Today 24th, a goose count on the reserve at Gruinart revealed 7,395 Barnacle Geese, 434 White Fronted Geese and 24 Greylag Geese on the reserve as well as a Merlin and a Kestrel. On Jura a Brambling was reported from a garden north of Craighouse.
Some intersesting late records include:
A Whooper Swan that was seen with a group of 7 at Ardnave, which had a ring U3X, this bird had been ringed in Iceland on the 29th July (thanks to Tony for this record).
On the 15th Novemebr 30 Whooper Swans at Loch Skerrols, 340 Golden Plover and 15 Pale Bellied Bents at Bridgend (GJ).

Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th November 2009

2009-11-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

With wet and windy weather heading in, there seems to have been a small movement of birds in from the north. On the 18th, 40 Whooper swans were reported from Loch Gorm and another 8 flew through Gruinart, as well as lots of Redwings in the gorse bushes around Loch Gorm. Also from the north 14 Snow buntings were reported at Ardnave (CF)- there were 52 Twite by the shore at Gruinart- and just to add that Mediterranean touch, in very un- Mediterranean weather the Little egret was seen from the hide at Loch Gruinart. The rain came down on the 19th, but through the mist a Greenshank could be heard at Gruinart. Records from the sun seekers in the rainy south, included: Dippers, Nuthatches, 1 Magpie, Jays and Red Squirrels (Dumfries and Galloway)

Sunday 15th November to Tuesday 17th November

2009-11-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

First, I have a confession to make, which also answers the comment on the last post. In my haste to get to market and shinty on Saturday I assumed the egret at Bridgend was still the cattle egret. Thankfully I have since had a couple of reports which confirm that the egret is a little egret. So for all those interested in the cattle egret, I have had no reports.
I have also received a report of a Kingfisher again at the mouth of the Sorn at Bridgend. Another report on email concerned some interesting behaviour, seen on the 4th November, at Gruinart. A visitor to Islay noticed a buzzard lift off from the ground in the woodland area, on investigation they found a half eaten barn owl.
Recent records include: 5 Gadwal, 32 Pintail, 1 Sparrowhawk and Otter from the hide at Gruinart on the 15/11. On the 16/11, Little grebe, male Hen harrier and Woodcock again from Gruinart. Today the 17/11 there has been an international goose count, watch the blog for the results. Although a Hutchinsii lesser Canada goose was noticed again at Gruinart.

Friday 13th and Saturday 14th November 2009

2009-11-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

Hello.
Like everywhere in Britain the weather was not the best for wildlife watching today, which was lucky because I spent most of the day watching primary school shinty (it was nail biting stuff). It was worth going to the shinty as I happened to see the Cattle egret at Bridgend on the way to shinty via the sale at Bridgend. On the way back we flushed a Woodcock at Gruinart.
Friday the 13th was thankfully a lucky birdwatching day with sunshine and crystal clear air, giving the birds a crisp appearance through the scope, a really good west coast day. At Gruinart there was 1 Brambling, 372 lapwing, 1,295 Golden plover (I couldn't find any American golden plover amongst them), 220 Bar tailed godwits, 1 Greenshank and 2 grey wagtails.

Thurs 12th Nov

2009-11-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Tracey e mailed the totals for last weeks Goose counts. The Barnies tallied at 50,145 and the Whitefronts at 5,464. The Whitefronts have certainly come in since the previous count, and there appear to be higher percentage of juvenile birds along with them compared to previous years. Thanks Tracey for the figures. While Malcolm was out on the count yesterday, on the Ardtalla/ Oa route, he had seen several groups of 100+ Redwings.

Our visiting birders had gone over to Jura today, and had seen a couple of Swallows down beside the distillery at Craighouse. Malcolm told me last night that the latest record of a Swallow been seen on Islay was on the 24th of November in 1989, although there have been later sightings than this on mainland Argyll.

I shall be away on holiday for the next fortnight or so, so James will be looking after the blog while I am away. Margaret and myself are going to Dumfries and Galloway at the start, so hope to catch the sighting of the Starlings going to roost at Gretna. We may be even see the Red Kites at Loch Ken, and everyone talks about the geese, a bit of a busman's holiday..... We also hope to catch up with relatives and friends while we are there too.

Wed 11th Nov

2009-11-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

Remember the poser about the snails yesterday, well one of you readers out there reckons that the collective name for snails is a "rout", any other suggestions?

Some birds news now, I have not heard of any recent sightings of the Cattle Egret since Albert and Hazel Percival saw it last Friday, but there again it disappeared for a few days before showing up again.

James had a couple of Brambling yesterday on the track leading to his house at Grainel. Also yesterday afternoon, and also on the reserve, a visiting birder over for the week, had seen the Taverner's Canada Goose, and was well pleased. He had spent a lot of time scanning through numerous flocks of Barnies! Today, down at Bruichladdich and George saw a late Swallow in the morning, as well as a few Woodcock.

Tues 10th Nov

2009-11-10T10:32:00.001-08:00

I took this image of some snails the other day, thought it might amuse some of you! I am not sure of the collective name for such a "gathering" is, answers on a postcard...

Back down on Loch Indaal and there were 24 Pale bellied Brent Geese down at the spit on the Strand, and another 4 at Bowmore, possibly the small group that overwinters with us is here! Also on the foreshore were a few Turnstone, and some small groups of Eider offshore.

Mon 9th Nov

2009-11-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

Remember back to the other day, when I was talking about having seen the Cattle egret and the Little egret together, and how it was good being able to compare the two birds. Well, tonight I was speaking with some friends, when the topic came up about Eagles, and one of the friends said that they had seen a Golden Eagle and also a White tailed Sea Eagle, and again they also commented about comparing the birds when they are relatively close to each other.

Sun 8th Nov

2009-11-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

Danny Arnold who was up for his 3rd visit of the year last week, had seen 6 Barn Owls throughout his visit, including 3 on his journey to the 7am ferry on Friday! Danny was fortunate to see the 7 Otters on one day on his visit, and gave us images of Moths earlier on in the year.

Another visitor today had the good fortune of seeing a male Hen Harrier seeing a Buzzard off, also an Otter in Loch Indaal out in front of Bowmore Distillery, and commented on the large flocks of Geese present.

Sat 7th Nov

2009-11-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

James was in touch with some sightings from the past few days. On Thursday, apart from the Cattle Egret at Blackrock, he had a Coot on the reserve at Gruinart, perhaps common on the mainland, but not that common here. James also had 64 Whoopers passing through.

On Friday, James carried out a goose count on the reserve, 12,880 Barnacle Geese, 775 Whitefronts and 31 Greylags. The count for the Barnies was quite high, while the whitefronts were almost 100 up on last year at the same time, with more juvenile birds to be seen, so perhaps they have had a better breeding season this year. On the mud flats there were 665 Golden Plover.

Today in the wood beside Gruinart Farm, James had a Chiffchaff, a Treecreeper, a Woodcock and 2 Mistle Thrush.

Fri 6th Nov

2009-11-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

Only a brief entry tonight to say that the Cattle Egret is still here, back in the field where it was first seen a fortnight ago! The blog is light as I have been busy doing books on the computer and have not been in touch with any of the others! Sorry folks, but....

Thurs 5th Nov

2009-11-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

James had spotted the Cattle Egret again this morning on his way down to Port Ellen, down at Blackrock, but when he came back the bird was not to be seen. Undeterred, we went down later on, and took a different tack and had a look from a different viewpoint, and after looking around for a few minutes, hey presto, the Cattle Egret was in a different field. It was still there late this afternoon, where it has been since last Wednesday I do not know, but it is still here for sure!!!

Malcolm had an e mail through from Clive McKay who used to work at RSPB Loch Gruinart. Clive had seen on the WWT website about tracking the Whoopers, and that one had left Iceland at 15.00 and was on Islay the following day before 12 noon! Another Whooper tale was by Andy Schofield on the Oa, who had seen the Whoopers fly past the other day, as did the Golden eagle who was a bit hungry and had a go at trying to catch one of the juvenile birds, but with no joy!

Wed 4th Nov

2009-11-04T12:24:00.001-08:00

This Redwing was caught in camera this afternoon below James's house at Grainel. I was on the lookout for the 3 Yellowhammer that were close by earlier on, but no luck! James had counted 365 Golden Plover and 520 Lapwing resting up on the mud on Loch Gruinart shortly afterwards, and the Green winged Teal was seen on the floods today by one of the vols.

Malcolm had 13 Pink footed Geese at Rockside while carrying out the goose count round Loch Gorm. They were in 3 different groups, rather than all together.

Several different groups of Whoopers have been seen today, the largest in number being 35 flying down Loch Indaal around 15.30, seen by Malcolm's wife, Carol. These were possibly the same birds that were seen earlier, on Ardnave Loch at lunchtime.

Tues 3rd Nov

2009-11-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

One of our visiting birders last week had a good sighting of a Merlin, the downside was that it was eating its prey at the time, a Meadow Pipit. Another regular visitor yesterday had seen 7 different Otters while he was out and about yesterday! Back to today, and the weather has been a bit mixed with squally showers, with a definite drop in temperature too. There have been some more Whoopers on the go again, but not as many as yesterday. Today was the first of this week's goose counts, so it will interesting to see if any more Greenland whitefronts have arrived.

Mon 2nd Nov

2009-11-02T13:21:00.001-08:00

Thank goodness the rain did stop, we had 1.75" up to 9 am today. The footbridge across the burn down at the Machir Bay was not to be seen as it was underwater, and today the burn was back down almost to its correct level, with no sign of any damage done, I thought that the banks might have got washed away in places, but thankfully no!

Back to the birds, and a great day for Whooper Swans, just after 9.30 am and we had 83 fly directly over the house. There were several other large groups, James had a total of 81 birds at Gruinart, while Malcolm had 2 groups, 38 just after 1pm, and then 46 around 16.40. James reckons that Malcolm's first group were originally from Gruinart. We had 33 just below the coal yard, and had counted 138 in total through the day along with several smaller groups.

Apart from the Whoopers, one of the vols at RSPB had seen a Kingfisher down at the mouth of the River Sorn as it enters Loch Indaal below Bridgend. One of the other vols had a Brambling on the track leading to Grainel. On the game crop at Grainel, there were 150 Twite and 50 Linnet. There was also the sighting of a Merlin chasing after the Twite! James also had a Taverner's Canada Goose on the reserve at Gruinart today.

Sun 1st Nov

2009-11-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

The total rainfall for October here at home was 4.25" in all, it might have been less but I normally empty the gauge out at around 9 am. At that time this morning it was raining quite heavily and had been prior to that time. Since then, there has been 1.5" and it is only gone 6 pm!
Steve Percival was back in touch with an update of the goose ring that was on as an image a couple of days ago, VHZ. This goose was initially caught and run by Steve and his colleagues back on 10th November 2001. It is a male bird and over the years been seen on Islay a total of 95 times, the majority of which were at Gruinart Farm, a few times up at Ardnave and once over near to Loch Gorm. As Steve says, "a very site faithful bird". It was retrapped on 26th Oct 2006, when its image was taken. It was also very faithful to his wife and partner, UNR. Steve had indeed seen VHZ every day last week, through from Monday to Friday inclusive! Thanks for the info, Steve.

Sat 31st Oct

2009-10-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Had an e mail through from Paul Kenyon who was over on Islay last week. Paul was fortunate to see both the Cattle Egret and the Little Egret. On Loch Indaal, he also had 4 Long tailed Ducks, 3 Velvet Scoter as well as 5 Slavonian Grebe. Thanks for that info Paul.

I think that the Little Egret has moved on as I have not heard about it since last Monday, and possibly that the Cattle Egret has moved through as well, as it has not been seen since Wednesday, as far as I know.

Fri 30th Oct

2009-10-30T13:14:00.001-07:00

This a "Darvic" ring which is put on the right leg of the Barnacle geese when they are rung. It is basically a 3 letter sequence of letters which can be read fairly easily, the rings are about 3.5 cm long and the lettering about 1.5 cm tall. Over the years Steve has built up quite a lot of knowledge from the various sightings. He actually saw 2 of the geese that were rung yesterday, again today. Will ask Steve for an update on the above bird, so will keep you posted once the info comes through.

What with the rain and wind today, the birds have been keeping a low profile!

Thurs 29th Oct

2009-10-29T10:00:00.001-07:00

An image taken a few years ago of the "Goose team" in full swing. This morning we were able to carry out the job for this year. We managed to catch 40 birds in all, of which 3 were retraps from previous years. Steve has been carrying out this work for25 years now and reckons that he has rung over 4,000 birds in all. There are still some of the birds that he rung 20 years ago still around. This year's geese also have a red ring on their left leg along with the BTO ring, so allowing the year of ringing to be seen quicker!

Also today, I got the first tally of the present Goose counts carried out by SNH here on Islay. The figures were 39,783 Barnies and 1,740 Whitefronts, the Barnies are only slightly down on last years' figures in October, but the Whitefronts numbers are well down. Could this possibly be due to milder weather, and a possible reason for them not coming here yet? Thanks to Tracey and the team for the figures.

Wed 28th Oct

2009-10-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

James was on the phone with some interesting bits and bobs.

A pair of Whooper Swans and their cygnets had been seen at Gruinart on the 20th October, and departed on the 21st, last Wednesday, and were seen at Martin Mere on Friday 23rd October. The adult birds had leg rings on.

Still on a similar ringing theme, 2 young Chough that were raised this year and rung on the reserve at Gruinart have been seen over on Oronsay. James said that there have been only a few recorded Choughs that have moved to Oronsay from Islay.

Yesterday, James had counted 280 Greenland Whitefronts on the reserve, also present were 11 Redwing and 13 Fieldfare. I saw 6 Redwing over at Coull this morning. A Green winged Teal was seen on the floods at Gruinart today, and the Cattle Egret is still here!

Tues 27th Oct

2009-10-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

The other week, the topic was the arrival of the Geese, last week Whooper swans, and of late the Cattle Egret, and yes, it is still here, in the same field along with the sheep! I wonder how long it will remain here, time will tell.

The other day, we had a couple of small groups of Pale bellied Brent Geese on Loch Indaal, the group that has overwintered in previous years has not shown up yet. They used to be anywhere between Bowmore round to Blackrock and on round to Bruichladdich.

There have been a few Fieldfares seen again, we had 25 over towards Ballygrant earlier this week, and this morning there were a few down at Rock Mountain. Further down the road was a close sighting of a Sparrowhawk.

The first of the Goose counts took place today, with other counts being carried out tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see what numbers are in at present.

Mon 26th Oct

2009-10-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

Another image of the Cattle Egret, taken by Mike Anderson who originally saw the bird on Friday. It was still present this morning in the same locality, although the Little Egret was seen flying around Port Ellen Harbour, just as the ferry was docking around 9.30 this morning! I was told yesterday that this was actually the 7th sighting of a Cattle Egret in Scotland, not the 5th, apologies! Still a 1st for Islay and Argyll...

One of our visiting birders who is over for the week and who saw the Cattle Egret on Saturday, told me this afternoon that he had a Brambling over at Coullabus.

Sun 25th Oct

2009-10-25T07:58:00.001-07:00

Well, as promised we went out this morning, on the search for the Cattle Egret. There had been a report of another Egret seen last night, so were there 2 out there?

We caught up with Tony, one of the vols from RSPB who was on the lookout too along with his 2 colleagues, only to be told that we had all just missed them, but there were certainly 2 birds! Patience is a great virtue, and not many minutes later and Tony had located the Cattle Egret in beside some sheep! Not long after that, and a second Egret landed in the same field, and this one turned out to be a Little Egret. The Little Egret was quite aggressive to the Cattle Egret!

Sat 24th Oct

2009-10-24T11:28:00.001-07:00

This is a first for Islay, and only the fifth record for Scotland of a Cattle Egret, if accepted.

I was out yesterday afternoon, but I was left a note about the bird by Michael Anderson from Edinburgh, who was over on holiday. Chris and Tony Johnson who had been over for the last 2 weeks, and who had contributed their sightings to the blog, had also seen the Egret on their way to the ferry this afternoon. The bird was also seen by some new birders arriving here today for a weeks birding. This image was taken by James How, later this afternoon when we were able to catch up together with George Jackson. Hopefully the weather tomorrow might be a bit kinder to allow us to get some more images to share with you.

Many thanks to Michael initially for letting us know that the Cattle Egret was here in the first instance.

Fri 23rd Oct

2009-10-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Must have Whoopers on the brain, there had been a flock of around 50 birds on Loch Gruinart, first thing this morning. James had been over towards Ardbeg and Ardtalla this afternoon, and had seen an Otter, and similarly commented on not seeing as many Fieldfares as earlier on in the week. George had seen over 200 Scaup on Loch Indaal as well as a Great northern Diver. Our friends had seen a Greenshank on the reserve at Gruinart today. Another visiting birder was well pleased yesterday, having seen 6 different species of Geese in the one field, Barnies, Whitefronted Geese, Greylags, 3 Pink footed Geese, the lesser Canada Goose as well as a single Brent Goose, all over at Rockside!