• When here in the Outer Hebrides and looking at a bird, have you ever wondered how rare it is? The status of all species can vary enormously from island to island. How rare is Shoveler on Barra, has Stock Dove been seen on Harris, does Dotterel occur on Benbecula in the autumn, and how common is Blue Tit on North Uist? Well, fret no longer! The Status and Distribution of birds here on the Outer Hebrides has been completely updated and summarised for every species and each of the main islands and outliers. Available as an online resource at https://status.outerhebrides-birdreports.org/ or via our shop

    New - now available as an ebook

Local Rarity 11th January 2018

BrianR

Senior Member
After a hard frost most of the lochs on North Uist were largely iced over with a number of ducks, including three Pintail, temporarily displaced from Loch nam Feithean and in the bay at Hougharry. Off nearby Aird an Runair were four Red-throated Divers, a Razorbill and a Puffin (the last quite unusual in winter here). At least 35 Purple Sandpipers were along the shore.
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At Loch Sandary the male Green-winged Teal was seen again - standing on the ice with other waterfowl.
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Bruce

Senior Member
The 2 long-tailed tits reappeared at Northbay today. Despite almost daily searches of the area, this is the first time we've seen them in about a month. A chiffchaff was in the bushes by the football pitch at Castlebay. The brent goose flock at Traigh Mhor has now shrunk to 3 birds.

Potentially of interest, an immature peregrine hunting at Brevig this morning showed a strikingly pale head. A similar bird or perhaps the same individual spent several days in this area during October and was generally considered to be a Tundra type bird by those who saw it. Unfortunately todays encounter was too brief to get any record shots.
 
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