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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
15th January 2024
- Thread starter Hawkeye
- Start date
YvonneB
OH Bird Recorder
Monthly BTO WeBS counts at Loch Bee and the South Ford. Both sites were a little quiet I thought and the periodic loss of visibility when snow showers blew in didn't help the cause much! Weather was very variable, from snow to sunshine but always cold.
Loch Bee: c330 Mute Swans and 23 Whooper Swans, I was scoping through a large group of Tufted Duck, c185 hoping to find the Ring-necked Duck, found two Scaup on my first pass then half way through the second pass a White-tailed Eagle appeared and the tufties all headed round the corner out of sight. Waders few and far between with only Redshank, Greenshank, Curlew, Snipe and Lapwings. There were 106 Greenland Whitefronts, for once outnumbering the Greylags of which I only counted 22
A small group of 11 Common Redpoll were at the north end of the loch. I had a quick look at the LA2 pools but they were 95% frozen and there were only half a dozen Herring Gulls there.
South Ford: A good day for raptors on the South Ford today with Buzzard, Kestrel, White-tailed Eagle and surprisingly a Short-eared Owl which was behind the Co-op at Creagorry. The tide was falling/low and I have no idea where all the waders were hiding, my best counts were 25 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Grey Plover and few Lapwings, an Oyc and several Curlew. Someone had reported 20 Brent Geese out on the Ford but they must have been hidden in the murk/blizzard when I was looking.
Loch Bee, brief sunshine before more snow blew in
Not much at the pools by LA2
Loch Bee: c330 Mute Swans and 23 Whooper Swans, I was scoping through a large group of Tufted Duck, c185 hoping to find the Ring-necked Duck, found two Scaup on my first pass then half way through the second pass a White-tailed Eagle appeared and the tufties all headed round the corner out of sight. Waders few and far between with only Redshank, Greenshank, Curlew, Snipe and Lapwings. There were 106 Greenland Whitefronts, for once outnumbering the Greylags of which I only counted 22
A small group of 11 Common Redpoll were at the north end of the loch. I had a quick look at the LA2 pools but they were 95% frozen and there were only half a dozen Herring Gulls there.South Ford: A good day for raptors on the South Ford today with Buzzard, Kestrel, White-tailed Eagle and surprisingly a Short-eared Owl which was behind the Co-op at Creagorry. The tide was falling/low and I have no idea where all the waders were hiding, my best counts were 25 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Grey Plover and few Lapwings, an Oyc and several Curlew. Someone had reported 20 Brent Geese out on the Ford but they must have been hidden in the murk/blizzard when I was looking.
Loch Bee, brief sunshine before more snow blew in
Not much at the pools by LA2