• 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

Hawkeye

Eyes and Ears Everywhere
Outer Hebrides / Western Isles bird sightings for this Christmas Day. Possibly updated throughout the day

Borve, Barra
The small Canada Goose was again on the machair today

Ruhba Ardvule, South Uist
Counting period: 08:35 - 10:30
Weather: Wind S F4, 5/8 cloud increasing to 8/8. Murky. Temp 9C.

A near 2 hour seawatch this morning produced 9 Eider (S), 6 Long-tailed Duck (S), 5 Red-throated Divers (2S 3N), 1 Great northern Diver (S), 6 Gannets (S), 68 Shag (3S 65N) and 1 auk sp (S).
Also in the area were Greylag Goose 26, Shelduck 2, Wigeon 38, Teal 2, Tufted Duck 14, Great Northern Diver 3, Cormorant 11 and Rock Pipit 1
 
A walk along Ardivachar beach this afternoon at low tide produced c300 bar-tailed godwits and 130 golden plovers (not often seen on the beach). Returning via the machair saw another 22 golden plovers (close by and reluctant to fly suggesting freshly arrived).
 
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