• 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

25th July 2017

MisterT

Always Birding
A trip today with Outer Hebrides Biological Recording (OHBR) to the Isle of Siolaigh (Shillay) with the excellent oceanguides gave me a chance to add some breeding bird records to the European Breeding Bird Atlas. The island, although in the Sound of Harris, is included in the 50 Km square (29VPE2) that covers most of Harris and is very much under recorded. While there we managed to add Shag, Cormorant, Twite, Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Black Guillemot, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Greater Black-backed and Herring Gull to the list. One surprise was an over summering Whooper Swan. Although thought to be injured at first, it showed that it was indeed capable of flight when approached.

DSCN0895RingedPlover.jpg DSCN0911Whooper.jpg
Ringed Plover protesting our presence & Whooper Swan, Siolaigh
 
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