Summer Visit to Isay

07th July 2015

Isay is the largest in a group of three islands in outer Loch Bay, Waternish, the others being Mingay and Clett. It is the site of a planned fishing village dating from 1830 so has much historical interest. Highland Council Ranger Service organised an afternoon trip to Isay and we were blessed by fine weather. From a birding standpoint the island is best known for its wintering flock of Barnacles so this was an opportunity to look at its breeding birds. The biggest surprise was to find at least one calling Corncrake. There were two gull colonies holding over 100 pairs of Herring Gulls and 50 pairs of Lesser Black-backs. The small plantation held several pairs of Lesser Redpolls and the adjoining reedbed, a few singing Sedge Warblers. There were several pairs of Lapwings and a pair of breeding Redshanks was a real bonus, an extremely scarce breeding bird on Skye. Large numbers of summering Greylags have been counted in the area before and the totals probably exceeded 250 with many moulting adults as well as groups of goslings. A total of 30 species were recorded and thanks to Ellie and John for organising the trip.

Bob

THE BOOK

"A glorious little gem"

AMAZON

"A book such as this has to look backwards and the author does so succinctly, looking at the work of several of the pioneering naturalists before picking out the publications of JA Harvie-Brown and the Rev. Hugh Macpherson. I know this book fills a real gap in the information available for the Isle of Skye and it will surely sell well at local bookshops."

Andrew Currie Miscellany West Highland Free Press

"A total of 238 species have been recorded, with 14 of those 'red listed' as of high conservation concern ... another innovation has been the inclusion of Gaelic names for some birds. While this is not uncommon in a few other books, the addition of some regional Gaelic names is very unusual and very welcome."

Ray Collier Country Diary 'Up in the Skye' The Guardian

"Illustrated with beautiful photographs of current birdlife on the island, the publication also features sketches by Jean Thomas of The Little Gallery, Portnalong, stimulating the reader's interest further and allowing them to identify species they encounter on Skye."

The Hebridean