• 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

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Hawkeye

Eyes and Ears Everywhere
Outer Hebrides / Western Isles bird sightings for today, 10th May 2018

Caolas, Vatersay
The ***Lesser Yellowlegs*** was still present this morning at grid ref NL625975 (see Bruce's post below)

Eilogarry, Barra
The *White-billed Diver* was seen off the jetty late afternoon

Stinky Bay, Benbecula
A Snow Bunting was seen there today.

Aird an Runair, North Uist
20 Pomarine Skuas and 1 Long-tailed Skua passed north off Aird an Runair this morning between 05:25 - 07:00. 6 Pomarine Skuas passed close to shore at 11.00 and the 2nd year Glaucous Gull was on a rock just off shore. A further 9 Long-tailed Skuas and 21 Pomarine Skuas passed north from 10:30-12:30

Balranald, North Uist
2 male Ruff at Loch nam Feithean this evening

Griminish, North Uist
22 Barnacle Geese and 18 Pink-footed Geese seen there today

Ruhba Ardvule, South Uist
Counting period: 06:35 - 10:40
Weather: Wind WSW F5 gust F6, mostly bright and sunny, brief shower early on. Temp 8c - 9.5C.

A four hour seawatch this morning produced 4 Red-throated Divers (2S 2N), 4 Great Northern Divers (3S 1N), 34 Fulmars (32S 2N), 6 Manx Shearwaters (S), 308 Gannets (282S 26N), 13 Shag (8S 5N), 1 Cormorant (S), 260 Kittiwakes (255S 5N), 5 Great Skuas (4S 1N), 4 Arctic Skuas (3S 1N), 6 Guillemots (S), 9 Razorbills (8S 1N) and 61 auk sp (52S 9N).
Also present in the area were Tufted Duck 12, Eider 26, Great Northern Diver 7, Whimbrel 1, Arctic Tern 15, Wheatear 1 and Meadow Pipit 2
An immature Glaucous Gull and Great Skua were seen later


Dc0d-MBXkAANRbt.jpg Dc2rvlfWsAALzS2.jpg
 

Hawkeye

Eyes and Ears Everywhere
Here at Askernish, there were 58 Whimbrel on the machair and 4 Whooper Swans remained on Loch Hallan. 4 singing Sedge Warblers were new arrivals and another was heard by the Co-op at Dalibrough. On the beach wader numbers were much increased with 400+ Sanderling including more colour ringed individuals.

20180510-IN8A6602Whimbrel.jpg 20180510-IN8A6609goldenPlover.jpg 20180510-IN8A6634CRSanderling.jpg
Whimbrel, Golden plover and colour ringed Sanderling, Askernish

Note:-
Entered the colour ring sighting into AnimalTrack and obtained the following life history of the bird. Interesting to see that i had seen this individual last year (04-05-2017) on the same beach

Capture.JPG

2016-05-17 - captured and ringed - North Atlantic Ocean
2016-09-16 - observation - Le Lividic / Plouneour-Trez / Finistère / France
2016-09-28 - observation - Le Lividic / Plouneour-Trez / Finistère / France
2016-10-26 - observation - Plage de Lividic, Plounéour-Trez, Finistère, France
2017-01-06 - observation - Plage de Kersaliou,Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Finistère, France
2017-05-04 - observation - Askernish, South Uist Western Isles Scotland
2017-08-20 - observation - Le Lividic / Plouneour-Trez
2017-09-17 - observation - rurus /Plouneour-Trez
2017-12-30 - observation - Plage de Kersaliou,Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Finistère, France
2017-12-31 - observation - Plage de Kersaliou,Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Finistère, France
2018-05-10 - observation - Askernish, South Uist Western Isles Scotland
 

Bruce

Senior Member
The lesser yellowlegs was again showing well on Vatersay this morning. Little in the way of new migrants on Barra today other than an additional blackcap or two.

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BrianR

Senior Member
Skua passage at Aird an Runair today (mainly other observers) and up to 12.30 hours: 52 Pomarine and 16 Long-tailed. Totals now stand at 323 and 73 respectively. I had not got my camera ready hence the rather poor shot of a Long-tailed that passed just off the headland.
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YvonneB

OH Bird Recorder
Here at Askernish, there were 58 Whimbrel on the machair and 4 Whooper Swans remained on Loch Hallan. 4 singing Sedge Warblers were new arrivals and another was heard by the Co-op at Dalibrough.

Hopefully those Sedge Warblers will head north and be here in Lewis tomorrow, I haven't heard one yet in Carloway this year.
 

Hawkeye

Eyes and Ears Everywhere
News from Tony Marr at Ness

Wednesday 9 May
Glaucous Gull – two 2nd CY together at the Butt (pm)
Shelduck – one at Fivepenny flood
Gadwall – drake there
Pink-footed Geese – 20 at Fivepenny and 30 on Loch Stiapavat
Black-tailed Godwit – 10 at Loch Stiapavat

Thursday 10 May
Pink-footed Geese – 17 at Fivepenny (am); 9 on Loch Stiapavat (early pm) joined by 35 and 25 which arrived from SE.
Shelduck – still at Fivepenny
Gadwall – pair at Fivepenny
Black-tailed Godwit – 7 at Loch Stiapavat
Glaucous Gull – one 2nd CY flew E-W round the Butt (pm)
Whimbrel – 15 on the Butt
White Wagtail – 9 on the Butt
Greenland Wheatear – everywhere! I carried out a count from the Butt down to Loch Stiapavat: the total was 176 birds. All looked like Greenland to me.
Chiffchaff – one in Port of Ness
White Wagtail – 15 in the area
 
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