ISLAY and JURA

Sat 15 - Tues 18 March 2008

Price £695 pp. Single supplement £60. Deposit £100pp
Maximum eight guests plus leader from our resident team.

Islay is a beautiful island, with soft rolling scenery and a wonderful variety of birdlife. We explore the large goose flocks of the fields and RSPB Loch Gruinart, and expect to see many thousand Barnacle and Greenland White-fronted Goose. The sight (and the noise) is absolutely unforgettable. We might also find Brent (pale-bellied), Greylag, Pink-footed and perhaps wild Canada Goose, but our real effort will go into rarity hunting! Snow Goose, Red-breasted Goose, Richardson’s Canada Goose (‘Cackling Goose’ in America) and Green-winged Teal were all seen in the last two years. Our mobile-hide minibus will be invaluable here!

Britain’s most northerly Chough population breeds on Islay, and we should see the birds floating on the breeze at very close quarters. We search the waters below for all three diver species, Black Guillemot and other auks, and perhaps rare winter visitors such as Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull. Duck concentrations include Shoveler, Pintail, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Shelduck, Tufted Duck and perhaps Garganey. We watch out for the island’s local Golden Eagle, which often passes between two high spots. Other raptors include Hen Harrier, Peregrine, Merlin, Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk.

Waders may include Whimbrel as well as summer-plumaged Golden Plover, Curlew, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Sanderling and Purple Sandpiper, and eautiful orange-plumaged Black-tailed Godwit.

We watch the weather, tide table and ferry timings, and select a day to visit Jura. Much more rugged and inhospitable than Islay, Jura is well worth a visit for the scenery alone, and is rightly renowned for its large population of Red Deer. We also hunt for Otter along the coastline.

Finally we use local knowledge to turn up any rarities which may be around – anything can happen on the Scottish islands in spring!

We stay in comfortable en-suite accommodation, and sail from Kennacraig in Argyll. If you join the holiday following 'Highland Winter Birding' 3 - 10 March here at Heatherlea, you can deduct £50 from the price and transfers are included free of charge.

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TRIP REPORT – Islay/Jura 18-21/03/’06

After successful holidays to the Southern Hebridean island of Islay in 2004 and 2005, Heatherlea returned in 2006, with the addition of visiting the neighbouring island of Jura. Here is a brief journal highlighting the four day trip…

Saturday 18 March      After a week based in Nethybridge, and visits to Caithness and Mull, the group were well acquainted with both each other and the winter bird life of the north by the time we set off early in the morning on the drive across country and down the west coast to take the ferry over to Islay.
The weather was bright and sunny, and as well as seeing brief views of Peregrine, Black Grouse and Whooper Swan on the way, the lofty, snowy peak of Ben Nevis stuck high out into the blue skies as a splendid and picturesque vista during one of the most scenic drives of any Heatherlea holiday.
A quick detour around the fields of Argyll added some early Greenland White-fronted Geese to the list ahead of the thousands to come, and after a briefer search for some white-winged gulls yielded no return, the bus headed onto the ferry and past Gigha with the Paps of Jura rising up out of the azure waves.

Birding from the decks always conjures up an array of species, and Red-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Gannet, Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Kittiwake and auks were seen as we enjoyed the warm, early spring sunshine on their backs.

Upon arrival on the island, we took a zig-zag route to our accommodation as an introduction to the masses of birds on show. Things started off very well with an adult Iceland Gull enjoying the weather along the coastline, shortly followed by a male Hen Harrier quartering some rough ground just above the bus. After adding Pintail, Shelduck and Teal in a quick check for unusual ducks, we took a swing around the typical single-track lanes of the semi-farmed countryside, and amidst the vast flocks of Barnacle and Greenland White-fronted Geese scattered as far as the eye could see, we put up a raptor, sending the Ravens, Hooded Crows, ‘real’ Rock Doves and Skylarks into a panic. We were soon in a panic too, as expecting a Buzzard, we were more than surprised when coming to halt level with a gap in the roadside bushes, we realised it was a Golden Eagle! We watched it hunting for Rabbit and the ubiquitous Brown Hare along the field edge not 100 yards away, before moving on to clear the road block we had inadvertently created. We returned a minute or so later to see two eagles wheeling around in the sky, until one landed on a fence post, and the other resorted to looking for more small mammals!

Before we arrived at our accommodation we also saw a group of Pale-bellied Brent Geese, so over the excellent dinner an hour or so later, there was plenty to discuss, talk about and look forward to.

Sunday 19 March        With fine weather again, we spent the day exploring the top sites on Islay, hoping to enjoy the same quality wildlife we had enjoyed yesterday. The morning was spent scouring the sea and fields in search of that unexpected goose or passage migrant, and during this quest we had views of Golden Plover, Black Guillemot, Fulmar, Whooper Swan, close, lounging Common Seals, Stonechat and more flocks of congregating Fieldfares and Redwings readying themselves for their flight back to Scandinavia. In a brief period of gooselessness upon a moorland road, we had a group of over 20 Ravens scavenging a dead sheep, and not too long afterwards another Golden Eagle riding a thermal, but after yesterday it sparked little attention compared to a Linnet in the other direction!

The afternoon was also spent searching for that rarer goose and scanning the fields for whatever turned up, but also included waterfowl and waders as we headed to wetlands and mudflats for some variation. The other great attraction on Islay apart from the Barnies and White-fronts is Chough, and we all had good views of this cheeky crow at various places as they hopped around amongst the hares and cattle foraging for food. We had a selection of both male and female Hen Harriers, two Slavonian Grebes, another Golden Eagle, and a good spectrum of ducks. Amongst the Pintail, Mallard, Teal, Shoveler and Wigeon we were hoping to find the long staying American Green-winged Teal, but after a prolonged period of searching unsuccessfully for it between the clumps of reeds and vegetation, we resigned ourselves to losing out, when as a last ditch effort we had a final check from a sun-drenched, elevated viewpoint, and lo and behold there it was, swimming about quite happily, blissfully unaware of the angst it had been causing us! At the same time, there were another two Golden Eagles wheeling about over the next ridge, which caused a slight diversion for some!

The hunting for an unusual goose paid off just afterwards when we had good views of a Richardson’s Canada Goose amidst the Barnacles. This small race of Canada Goose is considered a separate species in North America (Cackling Goose), and is an annual vagrant to these shores, with Islay being one of the best places to catch up with one. The other highlight of the afternoon was a noisy flock of agitated Pied Wagtails, which upon closer inspection were seeing off a male Merlin en masse just behind us as we relaxed with an afternoon cuppa.

After dinner, we took a circular tour to look for owls, and were eventually rewarded with a close view of Barn Owl on a fencepost in our spotlight, followed by a Woodcock in a nearby field for most of the group. A fine end to another fantastic day.

Monday 20 March      For the first ever time, Heatherlea took the short ferry ride over to Jura to see what was on offer over the water. The weather was cooler and more overcast than the previous two days, but the wildlife was still showing itself well. The name Jura derives from the Norse word for deer, so it was no surprise to see good views and numbers of Red Deer, with some marvellous stags strutting about in the bleak, inhospitable terrain.

Our only views of Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk, and our best views of Rock Pipit came on Jura, but the reason we were there was to see Otter, which are easier to see there than on the busier less accessible shorelines of Islay. We spent some time driving round the island, enjoying the experience, but not adding too much in the way of bird or animal life, when yet another pair of Golden Eagles were spotted in the distance, to which we gave a cursory glance, before continuing on to a small, seaweed covered bay and watched an Otter fishing for a considerable time, catching crabs, taking a bite and leaving the rest for the very grateful Herring Gulls to pick at, before catching another one. After a while, off swam the Otter, and we returned to Islay.

Before dinner, we went in search of more unusual geese, and ended up with more Chough, more Hen Harriers, and a Red-legged Partridge, but alas no rarities.

After dinner, we went in search of Woodcock again, and in exactly the same place up flew a bird, which we all got onto.

Tuesday 21 March       We had a relaxed last day, just exploring other parts of the island we had failed to visit until this point, before catching the ferry back to the mainland and the drive back to Strathspey.  The highlight of the day was a male Peregrine circling above us before stooping down and alighting on a nearby rock face as the sun shone down upon us again. Another male Hen Harrier keeping up our daily routine, the same Iceland Gull still enjoying the same sunny strand, and the sheer quantities of Skylark, Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting added to our experience. During lunch we were watched by a small herd of beautiful Fallow Deer – a relatively unusual deer in Scotland compared to their more widespread Red and Roe cousins.

A handsome male Grey Wagtail on the harbour side preceded the boat trip back to the mainland, which was a low key affair, with just the usual auks present for much of the journey, but as the temperature plummeted with the falling sun, the waters filled with Red-throated, Black-throated and Great Northern Divers, more sea duck, four Slavonian Grebes and good numbers of Black Guillemot.

Our final tally was 102 species, but all agreed more important than that was the sheer spectacle of the birds present, the hospitality and friendliness of the island, the weather, and the jaunt to Jura which not only added an extra dimension to the trip, but also the best Otter many of us had ever seen.

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Photos of 'Dark' morph Snow Goose and Chough by kind permission of Jeremy Hastings, Islay.

Please note: all itineraries are given as a guide only. Actual holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and elements beyond our control (eg weather).