Guide to Islay Wildlife

My wife and I have just come back from 5 nights on the Island of Islay. This place is well known for the quality of its winter birding. So we enjoyed our time seeing 107 species during our days there.

Now I am back, I thought I would share a brief guide to Islay Wildlife.

Video guide to Islay Wildlife

Moreover, I made a brief YouTube video of the highlights which you can watch below. This serves as an informal guide to Islay wildlife.

---

Geese

Clear from the start of the visit was the number of wintering geese on the island. Most were the Greenland Barnacle Geese.

But we did also see quite a few Greenland White-Fronted Geese (photo below), Greylags, Pink-Footed Geese and Light-Bellied Brent Geese.

A lifer for me was a single Red-Breasted Goose that we saw on our last day.

This was a lovely bird and quite easy to pick out. Certainly easier than the Cackling Goose that we also saw at a distance.

---

Mammals

We did see quite a lot of mammals on the island. These included Red, Roe, and Fallow Deer. We also saw Rabbits and Hares. We even spotted a Hedgehog one night.

One day I took a lovely walk along the coast. I managed to get some photos of Red Deer (Stag and Hinds) on the beach. It was quite a different setting to see these magnificent mammals.

On the Oa Peninsula we also saw several Feral Goats. These are descended from introduced goats but now living wild and free.

---

Other Birds

Large flocks of Twite were also on the Oa Peninsular. Several of them came to the feeders at the RSPB car park. Also on Oa we saw a late Wheatear.

The Red-Billed Chough is a bird that is known to live and breed on Islay. It is found in few other places in Scotland. This is a really characteristic bird in its feeding and flight behaviour. We were eh, chuffed, to add these to our year list.

We saw a good number of Fieldfare and Redwing too recently arrived from further north.

Another bird we enjoyed seeing was a female Brambling in a flock of mixed finches.

---

Coastal Birds

We had good scope views of several birds around the coast. This included Little Gull, Black-Throated Diver, Slavonian Grebe, and Common Scoter. More plentiful than all of these were Red-Throated Diver some of which were close enough in to allow reasonable photos.

There were lots of waders around the coast. These included Redshank, Greenshank, Curlew, Bar, and Black-tailed Godwit. Other birds were Oystercatcher, Turnstone, and Ringed Plover.

Another bird which seemed pretty common on Islay were Little Egret. We counted 9 in one bay at one point.

---

Raptors

No guide to Islay wildlife would be complete without talking about raptors and in particular eagles. The island certainly came up with the goods. We saw many Hen Harriers (both sexes) which were additions to the year list.

Other highlights were Merlin, Peregrine, Kestrel, and Buzzard on several occasions.

We only had good views of one Golden Eagle on the Oa Peninsula. But, it was a great and extended view.

This contrasted with White-Tailed Eagle. We saw them every single day. They rested on the sand or mudflats. Sometimes, they soared above us as we drove. A huge bird and great to see.

Well that is some of my highlights from our time on Islay. Recommend a visit.

If you want a guide to Islay wildlife I am available for trips of 3 days or more. Please get in touch.