Yesterday's weather was awful - damp grey and rainy. So nobody went birding and there was nothing to report. Today was much nicer - dry, bright and sunny again, though still not much bird news to impart. Mandy H. reported Willow Warbler singing at Carnduncan, Linden had a male Blackcap on the RSPB Gruinart  moorland trail and Ed Burrell had a White Wagtail at Cornabus.  Non-avian news was another Emperor Moth on The Oa seen by David D ..read more

A bright, dry and sunny day, though the only bird news from Islay comes from Linden who counted 155+ Black-tailed Godwits from the North Hide at RSPB Gruinart. Spring peaks of this migrant on its way to breed in Iceland are almost always higher than autumn returning birds. This count is a fairly high one, though numbers do seem to have increased in the past 25 years. There have been 2-3 counts over 300 and an exceptional tally of 850 in April 2013. Margaret Brooke noticed a Barn Owl in her nest-box via CCTV last night. The bird was ringed, and as neither of the usual nesting pair were ringed ..read more

Cool, but sunny and dry for my return to Islay after a few days away in central France where it was hot, sunny and the air full of the song of Nightingales! Many thanks to Malcolm O. for standing in as blogger in my absence, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from him in the future. The only report today comes from Gary Turnbull who met a birder at Whinpark this morning who reported an Osprey at the mouth of the River Sorn a little earlier. I noted 15 Brent Geese near to Blackrock as I returned home this morning. Other than that, Jim Wells, who had been over from N. Ireland recently, sent in detai ..read more

 Monday 15th April On a day with strong west to north-westerly winds with fierce squalls containing hail at times, and much colder than yesterday, it looked as if there were going to be no bird sightings at all. and then, in the afternoon, Mary-Ann reported a male Blackcap at Kildalton Thank you, Mary-Ann. You've saved the day! Blackcaps have been recorded from the more mature woodlands for many years, with the first probable breeding in 1985. There have only been a handful of probable or confirmed breeding since then, though with rather more singing males each spring, plus occasional win ..read more

 Sunday 14th April I would first like to apologise to Linden Kingston for describing him yesterday as a visitor. He isn't, having come to Islay to work for the RSPB. Enjoy your time here, Linden, as I'm sure you will. It's quite difficult for birders not to. With some of the birders who contributed so much last week having belatedly been able to leave the island, the flow of information has subsided a little, but David D saw a Common Sandpiper at Seal Bay and heard a Chiffchaff singing there at about midday, while Frank Cavanagh saw two Common Sandpipers at Loch Ballygrant later in the af ..read more

Saturday 13th April  A day of mixed weather with an increasing south-west wind, with occasional, mainly brief, but heavy squalls, and sufficient wind to persuade the Captain of the Finlaggan to cancel the last two sailings of the day.  To start with there were a couple of refinds from yesterday, with Mary catching up with the Snow Bunting at Claddach and Ed seeing the immature Glaucous Gull just inland of Bridgend. He also saw a sky-dancing Hen Harrier a little further along, before noting two White-tailed Eagles on a carcass at Leorin on his way home. Gary saw a different WTE from t ..read more

 Friday 12th April That's more like it!  Thank you very much to all the contributors today, who have been out and about, seeing good birds and sharing them on WhatsApp. Frank Cavanagh was first off, seeing an exceptionally early Storm Petrel and a few Manx Shearwaters heading west around The Oa first thing in the morning, as well as some Fulmars on the cliffs. Storm Petrels are regularly seen during autumn seawatches at Frenchman's Rocks, sometimes in low hundreds, but the previous earliest date was 21st May. Maybe the recent high winds have brought it inshore. They've never been pro ..read more

 Thursday 11th April Well! I have to say that I'm very disappointed. Not a single bird record was posted to WhatsApp today, nor has there been a single e-mail reporting something of interest. Indeed, the only post was from Hannah who saw a pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins heading towards Texa. Now, I know that dolphins can "fly", after a fashion, but they aren't really birds. So, despite a much nicer day than yesterday, with even a little bit of sun, it appears that birding round the island was at a very low ebb. I will therefore add an observation from my garden, of a pair of Collared Doves ..read more

 Wednesday 10th April I suppose I should have expected as much. Peter has gone swanning off to France on a jolly and asked if I would write this blog while he was away. So here I am, with my very first blog, on a day when it rained all morning and was pretty dreary in the afternoon and there were no e-mails and no WhatsApp messages, because, very obviously, no-one was out birding and, even if they had been, they wouldn't have seen anything for me to tell you about. Thank you, Peter! Fortunately, Margaret Brooke at Kilchoman sent in this charming photograph of the Barn Owl pair in her nest ..read more

A breezy, sunny and dry day. The potentially interesting gull (is there such a thing? I hear some of you ask) didn't show up today and various birders on our WhatsApp group sent in their thoughts, suggesting it might well be just a skinny Herring Gull - or words along those lines. A Sandwich Tern or two has been parading up and down between Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte yesterday and today - as they so often do in early spring, before vanishing for good later. Talking of vanishing, Jim Wells contacted me to say that a Red-breasted Goose has been seen, with Barnacle Geese, on N. Uist yesterd ..read more