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  • 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

National Rarity 12th October 2018

Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Eyes and Ears Everywhere
Outer Hebrides / Western Isles bird sightings for today, 12th October 2018. Updated throughout the day

Stornoway, Isle of Lewis
A 1st winter *Mediterranean Gull* was on the beach at Holm

The Butt of Lewis
25+ Fieldfare were seen arriving off the sea before heading on south

Tarbert, Isle of Harris
6 Bramblings were there today

Balemore,North Uist
2 Wheatears were seen on the machair there and 2 Swallows were nearby at Loch Sandary

Balranald, North Uist
1,000+ Barnacle Geese were there this morning

Ruhba Ardvule, South Uist
Counting period: 08:00 - 12:10
Weather: Wind SE veering S F8 gust F11, 8/8 cloud at first with occasional showers, brighter spells with sunshine later
A 4+ hour seawatch this morning in blustery conditions produced 7 Tufted Duck (S), 3 Eider (2S 1N), 1 Red-breasted Merganser (S), 4 Red-throated Divers (S), 15 Great Northern Divers (14S 1N), 206 Gannets (185S 21N), 10 Shag (N), 3 Cormorants (S), 6 Kittiwakes (3S 3N), 1 Common Tern (S), 2 Great Skuas (1S 1N), 1 Arctic Skua (S), 8 Guillemots (S), 2 Razorbills (S) and 25 auk sp (S).
Al;so present in the area were Greylag Goose 35, Red-throated Diver 2, Great Northern Diver 2, Purple Sandpiper 1, Snipe 14, Redshank 13, Black-headed Gull 4, Common Gull 72, Great Black-backed Gull 23, Herring Gull 265, Raven 2 and Rock Pipit 1
 
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The American Golden Plover was again on the field opposite the Askernish club house and a single Swallow was hawking insects over the same field. It didn't look easy in these winds.

AGP1.jpg
 
Not much was on the wing today in the gale-force winds at the few places visited on North Uist. First stop was at Loch Sandary but there was no sign of the Lesser Yellowlegs seen yesterday (presumed same as the one at Aird an Runair on 8th). I was going to head further N but decided to have a look at the S end of Loch Paible as there was a good high tide and maybe a lot of birds would be visible from the car at the road end. As it turned out there wasn't a great deal but after only being there a short while an interesting looking wader flew in and landed near some Greylags. I grabbed my 'scope but a Buzzard then landed and the bird flew off. Luckily it returned giving some good flight views and I was able to see that it was the Lesser Yellowlegs (and now seen at the third North Uist location).
 
Seawatching off Brevig this afternoon produced 5 Sooty and 4 Manx Shearwaters going south. Gannets were passing at a rate of around 350 per hour.
 
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