10th January 2018

[Hawkeye]

Rubh' Arnal, North Uist
3 Iceland Gulls, a juvenile Glaucous Gull and 2 Lapland Buntings seen in the area today

Balranald, North Uist
A juvenile Iceland Gull was on Traigh Iar

Stornoway, Isle of Lewis
A pair of Shoveler seen this afternoon, the first sighting of this species in the Stornoway area in 12+ yrs - see Tristans post below

Ruhba Ardvule, South Uist
A 2.5 hour seawatch this morning produced 7 Eider (3S 4N), 1 Long-tailed Duck (N), 8 Red-throated Divers (7S 1N), 10 Gannets (9S 1N), 44 Shag (9S 35N), 1 Cormorant (N), 100 Kittiwakes (99S 1N), 9 Razorbills (S), 1 Black Guillemot (S) and 6 auk sp (S).
Also present in the area were Greylag Goose 14, Wigeon 39, Teal 22, Tufted Duck 16, Long-tailed Duck 21, Goldeneye 3, Red-breasted Merganser 4, Red-throated Diver 1, Great Northern Diver 5, Cormorant 23, Black-headed Gull 1 and Rock Pipit 1

 

[MisterT]

A small group of 6 Redpolls appeared in amongst the Goldfinch today here at Askernish, one being a particularly white individual. This large 2nd calendar year female [wing = 78mm, weight = 15.6g] had white edging to both median and greater coverts, a white rump and supercillium, just a few of its many attributes pointing towards a Mealy Redpoll.

 

[Hawkeye]

News from Tristan
There was a pair of Shoveler off Sand Street, Stornoway, on this afternoon's high tide. It's the first time I've seen Shoveler in the Stornoway area in 12+ years on Lewis, they are pretty well restricted to Loch Stiapabhat as far as I'm aware.

I've seen single juvenile Glaucous Gulls around Stornoway rubbish tip on several occasions recently, including yesterday (9th). Possibly just one bird. No Iceland Gulls though and Stornoway Harbour currently has very few gulls.

 

[BrianR]

Not much to add to observations made at Rubh' Arnal above: a Slavonian Grebe was offshore along with my first Razorbill of the year and at least 40 Goldfinches were on the machair.