• 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

Surveys Mountain Hare Survey - New

UistBTO

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Not sure about Uist but Mountain Hares can apparently be found in North Harris

Mountain Hare Survey launched today

For the past several months BTO have been working with NatureScot, the Mammal Society, James Hutton Institute and Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust on a new survey which aims to improve our understanding of Mountain Hares and upland birds in Scotland. The project launched today.

BTO would like volunteers to use the Mammal Mapper app on their smartphones to record the animals that they see while they're in the uplands. The survey runs year-round and can be done at any time of day.

There are two ways of getting involved: 'Rambling Surveys' which you can do anywhere in Scotland, and 'Square Surveys' of particular 1km squares. These are similar to the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) in terms of method, but with many more squares to choose from.

Aspects of this survey are experimental - for example recording directly into a smartphone app. If you have limited time/energy during 'BBS season', please continue to prioritise your BBS squares. We would of course be delighted to receive any additional data that you can collect for the Mountain Hare Survey, and the flexibility with square selection, time of year and time of day may help.

You can read more on the Mountain Hare project webpage.

mountain-hare-andy-howard.jpg

Mountain Hare (c) Andy Howard
 
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