Trip reports
Islay October 2009
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
The early arrivals went to their cottage overlooking Loch Indaal where they saw Ringtail Hen Harrier and Chough. In addition, large flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare flew over. Large flocks of Barnacle Geese were found on the shores of Loch Indaal, together with a few Brent and Greylag Geese. There were lots of Eiders, Common Scoter, Redshank, Ringed Plover together with some Black Tailed Godwits and a single Dunlin.
The rest of the group arrived on Thursday. On Loch Indaal, 2 pairs of Long-tailed Duck, Slavonian Grebes, Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter and Whimbrel were spotted. Seen later, near the Bruichladdich Distillery, were Rock Pippit and Turnstone.
On Friday, the group stopped to look for the Long-tailed Duck again on Loch Indaal. Unfortunately, only the females were found together with more Slavonian and Great Crested Grebe and all 3 Divers. A small flock of Snow Bunting was found on the shoreline.
The group then travelled to The Oa where Raven, a Male Hen Harrier and Kestrel were seen. Upon our return to the car park a very large flock of Twite was found and, as we were ready to leave, 2 Chough landed nearby.
We then travelled to Claggain Bay where few birds to be seen. We did, however, see a small number of Great Northern Divers and a single Black Guillemot but the undoubted highlight was the excellent views of a Sea Otter.
Saturday the group visited Loch Gruinart RSPB where several White-fronted Geese were seen along with a few Shoveler and Lapwing. The weather was really awful but some of the "diehards" headed to Ardnave Point but could only looked at the small lake from their cars
On Sunday some of the group stopped at Erabus to look for a Cattle Egret that had been reported. It was a "first" for the Island and only the sixth for Scotland. We found it in the company of a Little Egret.
We then went for a walk in Bridgend Wood where a good selection of woodland birds was seen including Great, Blue and Coal Tits, Siskin, Goldcrest and Treecreeper.
Later in the day, visiting Loch Gruinart again, a Coot was found (apparently an uncommon bird on Islay) also seen were Gadwall, Pintail, Widgeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, a single Little Grebe several Whooper Swans along with Barnacle, Greylag and White-fronted Geese.
On Monday, half the group returned home while the rest spent a day on Jura.
In addition to sampling the "malts" at the distillery, we had excellent views of Golden Eagles, Redpoll, Snipe and Snow Bunting. Sadly we didn't see any sign of a White-tailed Eagle.
On Tuesday, our drive along "Eagle Alley" gave us good views of a Golden Eagle while a stop near Bowmore added 4 Scaup and 2 Golden Eye to the list of birds seen.
On Wednesday, before making our homeward journey, we visited the Caol Ila Distillery from where we were able to watch a Sea Otter feeding nearby.
Unfortunately, our return ferry crossing was even less productive for birds than the outward one.
Although the weather might have been better, it was an enjoyable trip with good numbers of birds seen.