• 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
Western Isles / Outer Hebrides bird sightings for today, 4th January 2021. Updated throughout the day

Tiumpan Head, Isle of Lewis
An adult Iceland Gull was there mid morning

Loch nam Feithean, North Uist
The two ***Cackling Geese*** were seen distantly at the west end of the loch this afternoon

Balivanich Benbecula
A juvenile Glaucous Gull was seen offshore

Balgarva, South Uist
The *American Golden Plover* was again seen on the shore this afternoon before flying towards Hebridean Jewellery

Eochar machair, South Uist
A Lapland Bunting and a Snow Bunting were seen on the machair. 185 Greenland White-fronted Geese were nearby on the west side of Loch Bee and four Scaup were on the loch

Balnabodach, Barra
A Jack Snipe was seen there this afternoon

Rubha Ardvule, South Uist
Counting period: 09:25-11:35
Weather: Wind N, mostly calm. Clear and sunny. Temp -1 - 0 c

A 2+ hour seawatch this morning produced 7 Red-throated Divers (4S 3N), 1 Great Northern Diver (S), 4 Shag (N), 1 Razorbill (N), 1 auk sp (S) and 4 Meadow Pipits (S - on off hthe sea)
Also present in the area were Greylag Goose 166, Pink-footed Goose 3, Shoveler 1, Wigeon 42, Mallard 115, Pintail 3, Teal 38, Tufted Duck 22, Long-tailed Duck 45, Goldeneye 2, Red-breasted Merganser 1, Red-throated Diver 2, Great Northern Diver 5, Cormorant 7, Hen Harrier 1, White-tailed Eagle 2, Oystercatcher 80, Lapwing 139, Golden Plover 42, Curlew 34, Purple Sandpiper 68, Jack Snipe 1, Snipe 17, Common Gull 54, Great Black-backed Gull 7, Glaucous Gull 1 [juvenile], Hooded Crow 5, Skylark 180, Starling 135, Pied Wagtail 1, Rock Pipit 7, Twite 135 and Otter 1

Eq5sXhJWMAYf9um.jpg
Jack Snipe (C) and courtesy of Ian Ricketts
 
Last edited:

Andrew

Senior Member
The 2 cackling geese were with barnacles at Balranald today west of Loch nam Feithean viewable from the track heading out to Aird an Runair at Goular looking south.

Also 50-60 snow buntings there and nearby a slavonian grebe on the sea at Hougharry.

2nd Jan - 2 snow buntings at Ardivachar and 4 slavonian grebes off Balgarva.

cheers, Andrew
 

Hawkeye

Eyes and Ears Everywhere
News from Tristan

On New Year's Day, there was an adult Iceland Gull at Goat Island, Stornoway. Also 2 Little Grebes in the inner harbour. This afternoon, a juv Glaucous Gull was at Stornoway landfill site.

(Hawfinch not seen since Dec 28th).
 
Top