Print pageStar species
Our star species are some of the most interesting birds you may see on your visit to the reserve.
Large numbers of the Greenland population of barnacle geese arrive at Loch Gruinart in the autumn. You can see them grazing vegetation in the wet areas in densely-packed flocks through the winter. |  |
The chough is the rarest member of the crow family in the UK. They can be found feeding in fields on Islay, probing for invertebrates with their curved, red bill. |  |
Listen in spring and summer for the repetitive, rasping call of the male corncrake - it sounds rather like a coin being scraped along the teeth of a comb. |  |
Watch the nesting lapwings here chasing predators that may come too close to their nests or show too much of an interest in their chicks. The protective parents regularly give chase to crows and do not stop their 'mobbing' attacks until the danger has passed. |  |
Large numbers of white-fronted geese spend winter on the saltmarsh and are generally present between late October and early April. These birds are of the orange-billed Greenland race, which winters mainly in Scotland and Ireland. |  |