Fifty years ago I visited Iceland for the first time and it made such an impression on me that it seemed the appropriate place to visit to celebrate my 70th birthday last week-end. We were treated to blizzards, gale force winds but no Northern Lights even so it was a delight to see it in Winter.

I expected that the harbour in Reykjavik would be full of Arctic gulls and while we only saw two Glaucous Gulls there were on some days more than a hundred Iceland Gulls present. Also present in good numbers were Eider Ducks, Long Tailed Ducks, Black Guillemots, Fulmars and even Blue-phase Fulmars.

The lakes in Reykjavik were mainly frozen except for one geothermal heated corner which had 50 Whooper Swans that had stayed in Iceland rather than flying to Britain in Autumn. Surprisingly these included a pair with their four young who may never know how to migrate!

A full day Golden Circle tour showed us Pingvellir, Stroker and Gullfoss waterfall all in deep snow and ice. It was dramatic scenery but the only birds seen were thirty plus Redpolls feeding in the warmth of a geothermal spring. Click here

An evocative name for the Icelandic Great Northern Diver. We have just returned from an extended week-end in Iceland to celebrate my 70th Birthday and not one Himbrimi was seen. The reason,of course is that they have all migrated south to the British Isles for winter and one young bird has already spent many weeks at Salford Quays. Now I never regard myself as a twitcher but a local Great Northern Diver, even if it was a first winter bird, was too much to resist. This weeks blog and gallery are of this magnificent bird and I had a rewarding three hours watching Himbrimi. It was interesting to note that any alarm calls from the Gulls on the Quays brought an instant reaction of fear from the Diver as would have happened on its breeding grounds in Iceland. Click here
Next weeks gallery will includes photos from our recent visit to Iceland.

Two weeks on Islay is never long enough but with good winter weather and plenty of wildlife to see this February was one of the most rewarding winter visits we have ever had. The Geese always provide a spectacle for the birdwatchers and this weeks gallery includes many of my favourites from our visit plus action shots from Islay’s special member of the Crow family the Chough. A visit to Jura in snowy conditions produced the greatest number of Red Deer that we have ever seen. These were driven off the hills by the snow and produced some good group photos.Click here

The big event back home this week has been the four inches of snow that fell on Friday morning. It resulted in 35 House Sparrows and 36 Goldfinches coming to the garden together with the first Siskin for some time.

One of the reasons for visiting Islay in February is to catch up with the many raptors that winter on the island. As only one pair of Merlin breed on Islay in summer the winter sightings are of Icelandic birds that have come south in October with Redwings and like the Redwings they always seem darker plumaged than our British Merlin. This weeks photo is of a female stood in a stubble field looking for potential prey. I was lucky as she was near the road and I was able to take several photos from the car before she was on her way. Moments like that don’t come along too often and if your camera is not out ready you will still be waiting for the next one!!

It took us a week before we saw our first Hen Harrier and then along came five one day and six the next. For some reason most sightings were of males including one that flew over a Roebuck as it hunted. On one day a Golden Eagle flew over the car on a moorland road and on the same road a week later a Peregrine was eating a Redwing by the roadside and flew off still clutching its dinner. Sparrowhawks were seen on a regular basis and on one day the Buzzard total was twelve. With all these raptors competing for prey the poor Kestrel is the one to suffer and not for the first time we saw none! click here

I will include more photos of Islays wildlife in next weeks gallery as they certainly warrant a closer look.

A week on Islay and a mixture of snow, rain, gales and sparkling sunshine.

A walk around Islay’s beaches resulted in a flock of 80 Sanderlings being encountered in one sandy bay. It was great to watch their rapid feeding whilst uttering low contact calls. One bird had a multitude of colour rings on its legs and was probably ringed on its breeding grounds in Greenland Click here

There are still plenty of Starlings on Islay and we witnessed a fantastic stoop by a Peregrine in its attempt to split the flock and isolate one bird. At dusk one evening a Sparrowhawk was chasing a small group that were going to roost under a pier.

The most unexpected bird of the week was a female Kingfisher that landed in front of us as it fished one of Islay’s largest lochs.

During the last week I was able to witness a Long Eared Owl leave its diurnal roost then look for prey from a hawthorne hedge. It circled low over a rough pasture then returned to the very same roosting branch that it left ten minutes earlier. It had caught no prey and was harassed by Crows throughout its excursion. This is the first Long Eared Owl that I have ever seen hunting during daylight hours when there were no young in a nest to feed and it is another example of how this winter’s weather is having a detrimental effect on the survival of all our Owls. If more settled weather does not prevail soon then many of them will not be in a condition to breed this year. Click here