What keeps pulling me back to Islay? It takes me three hours to get there, and three hours to get back and I get 6 hours on the island. The boat is fast and generally comfortable although it can be a tad choppy occasionally. This trip had three hours of wet and windy weather before it cleared up and the raptors took to the air. That is the draw every winter, 35000 wintering geese and a raptorfest. This year I logged 50 species including twite, barnacle geese, white-fronted geese, hen harrier, golden eagle, white-tailed eagle little egret and pintail. The boat journey had gannet, kittiwake, razorbill, guillemot, black guillemot and red-throated diver. As usual I am depending on David Miller for good photographs or pointing you at the JBirds - Birding by Boat Facebook page where you can drool over the photographs taken by people who have a good camera and know how to use it. Gary Gray and Albert Boyle were on my boat and they snapped what I was watching. Check out the link and scroll down to find the photographs.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jbirds/
Here are my photographs (Last three) and David's photographs (all the rest).
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| Note angle of horizon to the boat!! |
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| Barnacle geese |
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| White-fronted goose |
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| White-tailed eagle (juvenile) |
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| Loch Gruinart reserve |
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| Port Ellen |
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| Ardnave Point |
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| Rain, what rain? |
The trip added the following to the 2023 list, but obviously left the two local patches as they were! Will I go back to Islay for yet another visit? Of course I will, we didn't get the chough. 😞
2023
125: Golden eagle
126: White-tailed eagle
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