The Club is delighted to organise a series of monthly (September-April) Club-wide online talks for members, in addition to local branch events. Not an SOC member? Find out more about membership and the many perks it offers, including access to the winter talks programme and the Club's quarterly journal Scottish Birds.
Peter Roberts - The Birds of Islay and Jura
For our first talk of the 2026–27 programme, we are delighted to welcome Peter Roberts who will give us a fascinating insight into the work involved in producing a regional bird book. Join us to hear how he approached this impressive undertaking and discover what goes into bringing such a publication together.
About the talk:
Peter Roberts has recently published a new book on The Birds of Islay and Jura – a project which took four years! The last booklet on Islay’s birds was already 20+ years out of date. With birdwatching on Islay having grown in popularity, and no book ever having been published on the birds of neighbouring Jura, Peter decided to produce a fully comprehensive publication for both islands. This talk highlights how the book was produced, some of the challenges, shortfalls and results.
The core challenge was assembling data from a wide variety of sources spanning from historical records going back centuries right up to the end of 2025. Key resources included published works such as Birds of Scotland and Birds of Argyll, Argyll Bird Club reports dating back to 1982 and working through the databases of the Argyll Bird Club and Islay Natural History Trust, which, when combined, amounted to c.500,000 entries. Journals such as British Birds and Scottish Birds were used to verify rarer sightings, and BTO and RSPB provided a large resource of additional data from various surveys.
All this had to be amalgamated and verified into accurate and detailed accounts for each species with details on breeding, vagrancy, migrant numbers and changes over time. The book ultimately highlighted everything that is known, what is still unknown (especially on less closely-watched Jura), and uncovers patterns and mysteries in what should be a benchmark reference for years to come.
About our speaker:
Peter Roberts has lived on Islay for 27 years. A lifelong career in wildlife related work includes managing nature reserves, wardening bird observatories, environmental consultancy and research projects. He has arranged and led hundreds of wildlife and birding tours, taking him regularly to all seven continents.
