Islay Autumn Wildlife Expedition: 16th-20th October 2025

16th - first afternoon

Jack and the group met at the Kennacraig ferry terminal and started with the ferry trip to Port

Askaig.

Through West Loch Tarbert we had several summer plumage Great-Northern and

Red-throated Divers, R-b Mergansers, a Little Egret, Eiders and a few Harbour Seals.

Heading into open water, we spotted 2 pods of Common Dolphins and 8 Harbour Porpoise

with Gannets, Kittiwakes and Guillemots also around.

Down the Sound of Islay there were a fair few Red Deer on the moors of Islay plus a pair of

White-tailed Eagles soaring and a Golden Eagle very distantly in a flock of Ravens. Theo

then met the group, and they headed straight for Loch Skerrols finding a few Tufted Duck,

there, Greenland White-fronted Geese including a few juveniles, Whooper Swans and a flyby

ringtail Hen Harrier, plus a large flock of Siskin in the alders. On leaving, Jack heard Crossbills

calling and a flock of 6 flew overhead!

To take advantage of the calm weather we headed round to Loch Indaal spotting an Adult

WTE sat on the mud, huge numbers of Barnacle Geese and 3 Pink-footed Geese, Golden

Plover, Knot, Bar-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Ringed Plover amongst the common waders plus a

Mistle Thrush. Checking the deep waters in mirror calm conditions, we found a few

Long-tailed Ducks, Great Northern and Red-throated Divers, 3 Scaup, Slavonian Grebes,

Red-breasted Mergansers, Eiders and a drake Goldeneye.

On our drive round to our accommodation we stopped in at Loch Gorm finding lots of Tufted

Ducks there and lots of Geese feeding on the shores, plus a few more Whooper Swans,

before Theo spotted a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull, a scarce bird in the Hebrides with the

Common and Herring Gulls in the roost, an action packed first afternoon!

Team photo!

Yellow-browed Warbler

Otter on Jura

17th - Day 2

Our first stop was checking the woods around the house where Theo had found a

Yellow-browed Warbler the day before, he quickly refounds it and although it was mobile and

elusive, we all got good views of this scarce eastern warbler with 2 Goldcrests around.

Another calm day so we headed down to the south of the island via a stop on the south side

of Loch Indaal to look through the geese flocks with just a few Pink-feet amongst a huge

goose flock. The bays to the SE held more Seals and Red Deer on the hills, plus a pair of

White-tailed eagles and presumably their chick sat on distant offshore islands, the juvenile

flew off and flew right towards us and low over our heads! A superb view!

Further round we found a few Fallow Deer, 2 Sparrowhawk flyby’s, a distant WTE flyby, a Juv

P-B Brent goose, G-N Diver and a big mixed flock of Redwing and Fieldfare.

Back round to Port Ellen for lunch before onto RSPB The Oa where there were 20 Twite at

the car park and a ringtail Hen Harrier flew in and landed in the field giving good scope

views. Shortly into our walk, a female Merlin flew by at speed over the fields. A bit further into

the walk a Ringtail Hen Harrier hunted right by us maybe 20m away before heading right for

us and flying overhead! Up at the monument was quiet but the flat calm sea offered amazing

clear views right the way to Northern Ireland and the Donegal Ireland coast beyond that.

Back at the car park 2 Chough flew calling by.

On the drive back, we stopped in at Bridgend to watch the Barnacle goose flock in fading

light, seeing a few Brent Geese and a Grey Plover before heading for home.18th - Day 3

We headed for the moors of the west coast of the island, a few Red Deer were around and

dramatic scenery but quiet on the bird front. A ringtail Hen harrier flew by the van on leaving.

Heading round to Loch Gruinart we received news of a Cackling Goose there and within

10mins we were watching the bird in the flock of Barnacle Geese really close to the road, A

lifer for all the guests and Jack! This diminutive Canada type goose was an interesting bird

and showed features of the scarcer subspecies taverneri.

En-route we found a large Chaffinch flock which held a few Reed Buntings and a couple of

Yellowhammers.

We then received news of Snow Buntings not too far away so headed round for a look, but

sadly they had flown off and no further sign, a flock of Twite were a nice consolation. Driving

back round to Loch Gruinart, we saw 2 ringtail Hen Harriers before lunch. A Water Rail and

Moorhen were calling at the visitor centre

Heading on up to Ardnave for the afternoon, Jack spotted a pair of adult WTE feeding on

something out on the loch and watched them in the scope for a while, before a Golden Eagle

popped up further down being harassed by Buzzards, we headed its way and it showed well

from the roadside in the nearby fields before heading off.

At Ardnave we had Little Grebes on the loch, Bar-tailed Godwits, Ringed Plovers,a ringtail

Hen Harrier, a distant WTE and lots of Grey Seals including a few pups. Walking back to the

van we spotted 2 Choughs which kept flying ahead of us almost leading us towards a much

larger flock of 35 Chough feeding in the dunes!

Leaving Ardnave we were driving back when an Immature Golden Eagle flew out from by the

stone wall metres from the van and showed fantastically on the field below us, briefly hunting

Lapwings! Looking down on this enormous eagle was a unique view for all, flying behind us

we were watching it behind the van whilst reversing back, Theo watching the bird in the wing

mirrors!

Whilst all this was happening, we received news that the returning adult Red-breasted Goose

had re-appeared on the fields at Loch Gruinart for the winter. Arriving there, we found that it

had flown off and disappeared… finding the nearest large flock of Geese we began

searching for it… around 3 minutes later, Theo had eyes on it. We got great but challenging

scopes views in the wind of this very extravagant looking celebrity goose. A flock of 7 Little

Egret and our first male Hen Harrier of the trip flew through, before all the geese flew as a

Golden Eagle appeared on the more distant skyline. After all this it was finally time to head

home for a well-earned dinner.

19th - Day 4

A rainy day.. We made for the hides at Loch Gruinart but along the way we spotted a large

flock of Barnacle Geese in the fields so had a search through them and Theo spotted a

Richardson’s Cackling goose, another of the small Canada goose species, in the heavy rain

we all managed as good a view as we were going to get in the shelter of the van!

Down in the shelter of the hides we saw Snipe, Pintail, Mallards, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal and

Sanderlings and Dunlin out on the mud, plus a lovely close flyby from a female Hen Harrier.

Back home for lunch and to take shelter before we headed to a local distillery, perfect wet

weather day activity! After the distillery, we braved the weather for a quick walk to a nearby

bay seeing Great-northern Diver and 2 Choughs. Heading for home, we flushed a Woodcock

out of the roadside ditch and it flew right along the side of the van for everyone to see! Our

100th species for the trip, time for a hot shower and final night dinner…

20th: Last day

After a great few days birding on Islay we decided to take our chances on a trip to Jura

primarily in search of the elusive Otters..

On our way to the ferry a juvenile WTE flew low across the field and alongside the van, lifting

a huge flock of geese in front of us spectacularly! A Sparrohawk lifted off a roadside fence.

We also spotted a Black-tailed Godwit feeding in a tidal ditch.

Onto the ferry.. Less than 5mins onto Jura we spotted an Otter coming into shore with a crab

which it devoured less than 10m away.

Driving along the east coast road we noticed 2 big lumps sat on top of a rock, a pair of WTE.

They flew off with the sun glistening off them to a slightly further away hill, giving great scope

views. Red Deer were everywhere on the grass-moorland, including lots of Stags.

Over a cup of tea we noticed splashing behind us and a large pod of 14 Bottlenose Dolphins

were travelling slowly up the coast, leaping and playing as they went.

Heading back for the ferry, we watched another Otter out fishing more distantly before a

different Otter this time a dog Otter swam out from the shore to fish. A quick pit stop at the

Jura Distillery, back at the van yet another Otter was fishing close in in the bay, we watched it

for a while as it happily fished 15m from us, before we headed back for the ferry. It wasn't

done yet. Jack spotted a mother Otter and her 2 cubs from the van but they headed to shore

out of view and we had to get in the ferry queue.

Arriving at the terminal we had a scan from there and spotted our 8th, yes 8th Otter of the

morning out fishing more distantly. 2 Juvenile WTE gave us a fantastic low flyby down the

Sound when we were boarding the ferry!

Back across to Islay, At the ferry terminal we spotted a distant Golden Eagle and more views

of a juvenile WTE over Jura. On the ferry back to the mainland, we spotted Harbour

Porpoise, Slavonian Grebe, Goldeneye, R-b Mergansers, Little Egrets, Eiders, Both auk

species, Kittiwake, Red-throated and Great-northern Divers. We said our goodbyes and the

end of a great few days.

Species list: 106sp Birds and 12sp Mammals