• 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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Sparrows and Wood Pigeons

Garry h

Member
Early last year I wrote about the worrying scarcity of Sparrows, well it must have been a bumper breeding year, see the attached photo of feeding frenzy at my bird station! I get a different number every time I attempt to count them!
I also wrote about the large number of dead Wood Pigeons in Stornoway Castle grounds, I emailed the local veterinary practice but haven't received any response. I am seeing a few Wood Pigeons visiting my garden but not in the numbers I noted earlier in the year. We also experience a lot of Rock Doves who mop up the loose seed and bread that the Starlings, Sparrows, Tit's etc scatter under the feeding station.
GarryH

swarmofsparrowscrop.jpg
 

YvonneB

OH Bird Recorder
Hi Garry, glad that your Sparrows had a good breeding year last year, great to see good numbers. Keep a look out for House sparrows with white colour rings - so far the furthest north they've been seen is RSPB Balranald in North uist and the furthest south is Barra. After they were seen on Barra our hopes were that one of these days they would also head north over the Sound of Harris.

That was very strange about the dead Woodpigeons and a shame there was no response from the local vet.
 
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