A good winter's birding day!

The main objective of the day was to get a WeBS count of Outer Loch Indaal given the weather conditions were suitable. Achieved, with a slightly surprising result in that the number of Great Northern Divers exceeded 20, not a particularly high count, but with all other species virtually absent! Thankfully a flock of Barnacle Geese north of Nerabus included not only a " hutchinsii" Canada Goose but also a "parvipes", with excellent views of both being obtained.

After the count I went up to the Inner Loch area given other recent reports have not really given any feedback for "wider" areas of Islay. A few Long-tailed Duck were present and Slavonian Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Great northern Diver, Eider, Greater Scaup, Light -bellied Brent Goose and Wigeon besides a variety of common waders. all in all a very enjoyable array of birds! On a point of enquiry........ I've never ever seen the Greater Scaup flock here feeding, they're always "roosting"!! The numbers fluctuate, which suggests they've feeding areas elsewhere regardless of the tides, but where?

Moving on to the RSPB Gruinart Reserve the Little Egret showed well and was obviously finding food easily given its foraging rate and success! The atmosphere here in late afternoon was terrific with the calls of anxious Teal, Mallard and Wigeon joining with a background of calls from Barnacle Geese and Greenland White-fronted Geese....terrific! On the way home a "modest pond" west of Port Charlotte provided the highest count of Moorhen I've ever had anywhere on Islay in ten years .....ten birds. It's not the commonest species so a notable hotspot!

Not a bad day, but back to normal as I write this with rain pounding on the window!

4th December,2009.

A somewhat more targeted day! Fine until the evening when heavy rain ensued and temperatures felt lower!!

The 1st November, 2009 saw the commencement of the third year of the BTO Atlas survey, which has been detailed before. The surveys, in both winter and summer, involve two visits to each tetrad selected and the requisite records being collected. Whilst we're doing reasonably well on Islay, Jura and Colonsay, my discovery that a Regional Representative elsewhere in the UK had 320 people on his list of Atlas contacts came as a bit of a shock! I admit the fact that we're struggling to exceed double figures of resident helpers, but extend heartfelt thanks to those who have helped whilst on holidays to add records into what is a region with 26 10km. squares and 377 tetrads to cover. A challenge worthy of reality TV!

Anyway yesterday's efforts helped contribute to the pool of data, but didn't generate much of interest given the nature of the areas I'd selected, which were almost bereft of birds. Sometimes it's difficult to be convinced of how some birds, e.g. Stonechat, manage to eke a living out in the midst of such "hostile" terrain!

3rd December,2009.

At last, a free day! Whilst survey work was calling the need to have a good look around the northern parts of Islay won out in the end. I did manage to complete a number of BTO WeBS counts on various waters , although a low sun and the distribution of birds within Inner Loch Indaal made counting impossible as everything was in silhouette and at distance. A brief appearance by an immature Golden Eagle over Bridgend Woods put the nearby roosting Barnacle Geese to flight for what was a few minutes of calling and pandemonium. Both in the Outer and Inner loch diver numbers seemed low, as did other waterbirds, but a further check can be made when conditions are more supportive.

Nothing of real interest over the sea but 21 Northern Fulmar around at the area north of Portnahaven was a nice sight. For once Orsay (island ) and the sound appeared bereft of Atlantic Grey Seals after some quite high counts previously.

2nd December,2009.

Recurring problems with the water supply meant I had to remain at home. Thankfully ( to Archie ) all is now restored and back to normal.

Some little time ago Malcolm Ogilvie ( Islay Nat.Hist.Trust ) had transferred on to me the dataset of moths which had accumulated over the years. The vast majority of these were from visitors to the island and none of the records had been closely examined to see if any mistakes, name changes etc, affected them. Then, through the good offices of Zoe Randle ( Butterfly Conservation ) it was arranged for Mark Young ( Aberdeen University ) to scrutinize them, for which many thanks to all! A few queries emerged, but the main thing is that we now have an updated list, at a given point in time, against which we can add further records in the future. Very soon the records will be transferred onward to be a part of the National Distribution Map exercise which is being completed at the present time, of which more later.

Very soon I shall be operating a couple more Blogs in tandem with the above, which I hope will compliment each other. I'm separating general wildlife matters away from bird content and also having a site devoted to environmental and conservation concerns. I suddenly realised last night that , given the upcoming Climate Change conference, my timing was either spot on , or unfortunate, but there you go!!!

After the wild weather of Tuesday I actually believe things are to settle down a little!

!st December,2009.

Back on Islay and into normality, although"normality" weighed in a little fiercely!! A fresh to srong southerly wind had white-capped waves advancing up Loch Indaal like a fleet of galleons in full sail. An official goose count was hampered somewhat by the wind and visibility conditions, and also produced a challenge in the form of the geese having chosen less regularly used spots in which to shelter and feed. Others were on the mudflats at Bridgend resting up after, presumably, having fed in the part moonlit conditions last night. Progressively conditions became worse with the onset of heavy rain, which hampered things further! Not pleasant.

25th November,2009.

A very early post , as the sensible option for today is to remain linked to this computer and stoke up the fire!!! The weather is pretty bad , which is in contast to the previous few days as it's been relatively calm with odd showers only. Long walks with the dog have been rewarded with my being within woodland, always a pleasure away from Islay, although we do have some small blocks of deciduous woodland, not being besieged by a constant wind and an array of the commoner bird species. A vain attempt to find Crested Tit was tried, but failed! Whilst nothing is too numerous I get the feeling that commoner passerines , e.g. Chaffinh, are in better numbers than we enjoy back home.

From forecasts it would seem the ferries are cancelled off the west coast so no respite there either!!

21st November,2009.

Early start to get the 0700 hours ferry, but the weather held firm and no problems encountered.
Uneventful journey up the Great Glen with very little in evidence. I'd expected more Redwing and Fieldfare to be on show , but such was not the case. A flock of about 90 Redpoll sp. near Drumnadrochit was nice to see and a walk in the woods nearby to Kirkhill shortly after my arrival renewed an acquaintance with a variety of easily seen passerines.

And then , the crowning glory to a full day.......Scotland's success in the rugby!! What a match, what a defence, 27 years in the waiting and worth every minute!!