• 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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Local Rarity 16th October 2017

Hawkeye

Eyes and Ears Everywhere
Ardmhor, Barra
A *Red-breasted Flycatcher* seen today

Tiumpan Head, Isle of Lewis
A 2nd winter Glaucous Gull present this morning and 16 Whooper Swans flew south.

Stinky Bay, Benbecula
2 Sand Martins seen along the shore this morning. Circa 50 Whooper Swans were nearby on Loch Mor.

South Glendale, South Uist
60 Redwings, 1 Blackcap and a Siskin were in a garden there.

Carnan, South Uist
A single Snow Bunting seen today.

Loch Bee, South Uist
20 Whooper Swans were seen heading south early this morning.

Baleshare, North Uist
10 White-fronted Geese were seen today

Carinish,North Uist
10 Redwings seen this morning

Ness Area
News from Tony Marr
Calm morning spent in gardens but little seen; small numbers of swans and geese on the move.
Port of Ness
Redwing – 22 Twite – 5 Blackcap – female

Habost
Wheatear – one

South Dell
Redwing – 40, Coal Tit – 1, Lesser Redpoll – 2, Goldcrest – 1, Whooper Swan - one flew S

Butt of Lewis
Barnacle Geese – 47 (21 + 26) flew over lighthouse E-SW, Wheatear – 1

Loch Stiapavat (early pm)
Barnacle Geese – 17, Brent Goose – still 2, Black-tailed Godwit – still 1
Whooper Swan – 12 in early morning, of which 10 flew off SW (0815); at (1315) a family party of four dropped out of the sky to the loch.
 

Chris Johnson

Senior Member
Ardivachar Headland
245 Barnacle Geese; 73 Brent Geese; 5 Common Scoters, 2Great Northern Divers; 60 Snipes.

Range and West Loch Bee
21 Curlews; 250+ Lapwings; 494 Golden Plovers; 75 Barnacle Geese; 220 Brent Geese; 9 White-fronted Geese; 27 Whooper Swans; 3 Great Northern Divers; 3 Guillemots
 

Bruce

Senior Member
It's been an interesting 24 hours here on Barra. Last night there was a big movement of snipe with wave after wave of calling birds passing overhead on their way south. I've no idea how many birds were involved, but I could hear passing snipe calling constantly for 3 hours. There were also good numbers of redwings calling last night, so it was no surprise to find several hundred scattered around the island this morning. A brambling and spotted flycatcher were new in at Creachan as was a red-breasted flycatcher in the plantation at Ardmhor. 2-300 whooper swans and similar numbers of barnacle geese passed south-east over the island during the course of the day. With gale force north-easterly winds making birding futile around the bushes by mid- afternoon, I headed out onto the headland near Brevig for a seawatch. It was immediately obvious that there was a great skua movement in progress and in the hour before the rain arrived, I counted 45 heading along with at least 3 arctics and several hundred kittiwakes and gannets.

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BrianR

Senior Member
There were also at least 85 Whooper Swans seen from Carinish, North Uist heading S. Most were in in two herds just before 08.30 hours. Also at least 70 Redwing were present.
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It appeared to be fairly quiet during a brief visit to Langass later with a Brambling being the only species of note.
 
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