Today was a sad day at The Oa as we said goodbye to Richard, photographer, travel writer and window frame maker extraordinaire, and Nat, whose unique abilities at cake-eating and squirrel massage can never be replaced. Tuesdays and Wednesdays won't be...

Looking toward Lower Killeyan and the American Monument from Ghiol yesterday on The Oa reserve.

There's plenty of fencing and maintenance jobs going on around the reserve at the minute as it's been a decent spell of weather the last few days, with...

I park by the bones of some earlier visitor to Ardnave Loch, picked clean and bleached by the salty air. It is raining. Windy. But this is northern Islay, and the next stop westwards is Nova Scotia. I haven’t gone far when my phone rings. Typical...

It's cold, wet and grey out here on Islay today, so here's some entirely gratuitous sunrise/sunset shots instead.

Here's West Loch Tarbet at dusk taken from Kennacraig, whilst waiting for the Islay ferry

And here's an Oa sunrise from Dave...

I’m sure many of you will have heard that it was quite windy here yesterday and never ones to shy away from a bit of heavy weather we were out (once the worst of it had passed!) to check that the reserve was still intact. Luckily all was well apart from...

Crisis time here at The Oa today. Riddled with self-doubt, Dave has quit his position as Islay's foremost photographer of blurry, distant eagles and has now branched out into snapping blurry, distant otters instead. The results speak for themselves. ...

A wild day out here on Islay, as with the rest of the country. Snow and hail showers accompanied the gales that brought power cuts and much flight and ferry disruption to the island. Down on The Oa there are a few of our buildings that are lighter and...

The new Islay blog is still finding its feet at the minute, but one feature proving popular already is Dave's brave recurring attempts to photograph one of the resident Golden eagles in a manner where it is actually identifiable. If only they'd sit still...

Although it’s not part of the reserve Ardnave is a mere 3 miles up the road from the Loch Gruinart visitor centre and is a fantastic place to do a bit of wildlife spotting. There’s a circular route that leads from the loch around the rocky...

Greenland white-fronted geese lifting out of a field on The Oa reserve today. Overshadowed by the Barnacle goose in terms of numbers (on Islay, certainly), it is this species that is probably of greater conservation concern at the minute, with numbers...

History has given us some titanic struggles between fierce rivals. Borg vs McEnroe. Scott vs Amundsen. Erm, Quality Street vs Roses. On a windy Friday night in Port Ellen, the biggest of all was to be decided. Loch Gruinart vs The Oa in a battle for Islay...

Unfortunately for us we’re creeping into Project Officer, Natalie Huss’s last month here on Islay working with HELP (the Halting Environmental Loss Project) and a couple of days ago she hosted a lunch for some of the islands interested farmers and crofters...

Some of our Scottish Blackface tups getting a final check-up and medical before they are unleashed on several hundred ewes that await them. The boys seem considerably more excited about this prospect than the girls...

We tup quite late in the year here...

Some of our Highland heifers gathered around one of the many ruined houses and steadings found around The Oa peninsula. Much of the human history of The Oa is a story of hardship and disaster, even before the rspb got involved. Boom boom. In the early...

One of this year's lambs grazing the cliff tops at Upper Killeyan, The Oa last week. Today and yesterday have been spent trying to gather all the sheep in from their various hills and cliffs, as it's tupping time. With several hundred sheep spread...

So as promised here are the figures from the recent goose count… 46,931 Barnacle geese and 5,888 Greenland white fronted geese, so plenty to see! This afternoon I was out near the Gruinart flats with my fellow volunteer John hoping to see hen...

The winter sun sets over Loch Gorm, Isle of Islay. Taken from the Loch Gruinart reserve. It's been a decent run of weather over the past few days. Something nasty must be on the way!

Some more of Islay's November wildlife, out in the sun in and around The Oa over the past few days.

This Goldfinch is part of a small flock of 15 or so that have been hanging around with the winter flock of Twite at Kinnabus more regularly recently...

My book tells me you can see the adults of this distinctive moth species all year round, but this is definitely the latest in the year I've seen one

…time for the goose counting season to start and over the past two days I’ve been lucky enough to join Fiona MacGillivray, Senior Research Assistant, Ecologist and experienced Goose Counter whilst she counts literally thousands of geese around the Loch...

Yesterday began with a cracking sunrise on the Oa, followed by a downpour.

Ten minutes later we had a dusting of snow, a rather unusual occurrence on the generally frost and snow free Islay. The rest of the day was pretty good but today we have been...

The Oa geese have been jumpy today, regularly flying around in a panic and sitting on loch Kinnabus rather than grazing in the fields. About 400 Greenland white-fronts are now here along with a few hundred barnacles and greylags.

The geese tend to head...

Pick the right day and The Oa is as spectacular a place as you'll find up this way. It has to be said that there are times when it is not quite so dramatic...

It's a pretty grey day here at The Oa, so time for a prowl around the farm sheds to see who's about. Such is the importance of grazing as a habitat management tool at Loch Gruinart and The Oa that both reserves have their own in-house farm staff...