• 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
Outer Hebrides / Western Isles bird sightings for today, 13th November 2018. Updated throughout the day

South Glendale, South Uist
3 Blackcaps, a Brambling and a Woodcock were in a garden there

Ruhba Ardvule, South Uist
Counting period: 07:35 - 10:35
Weather: Wind WNW backing WSW F4-5, intitially dull and cloudy, bright and sunny later. Temp 9.4C.

A 3 hour seawatch this morning produced 5 Eider (1S 4N), 6 Long-tailed Ducks (3S 3N), 1 Red-breasted Merganser (S), 28 Red-throated Divers (24S 4N), 5 Great Northern Divers (4A 1N), 24 Gannets (S), 71 Shag (16S 55N), 249 Kittiwakes (S), 9 Black-headed Gulls (S), 7 Common Gulls (S), 1 Guillemot (S), 2 Razorbills (S), 1 Black Guillemot (S) and 9 auk sp (S).
Also present in the area were Greylag Goose 112, Wigeon 19, Tufted Duck 5, Goldeneye 2, Red-throated Diver 3, Great Northern Diver 3, Cormorant 18, White-tailed Eagle 1, Bar-tailed Godwit 2, Purple Sandpiper 2, Hooded Crow 1 and Rock Pipit 2
 
Last edited:

BrianR

Senior Member
It has been a good autumn for visible migration of Skylarks during several seawatches at Aird an Runair, North Uist recently and a small number flew SW this morning.
_DSC6909_2.JPG

Fourteen Pintail at nearby Loch nam Feithean yesterday was a good count.

A Jack Snipe was at Carinish, North Uist. Flew across the road as I was returning home and pitched into the marsh. Flushed at close range but as usual with this species did not go far. What was unusual, however, was that it called - a nasal sound much like Common Snipe but very much weaker.
 

Bruce

Senior Member
On Barra it was another goose-rich day. There were 3 new Canada Geese at Borve; slightly smaller than Greylag and distinctly dark looking with thin necks and fairly long bills. Todd's Canada Goose seems to be the best fit. The three birds were initially feeding among a mixed flock of Barnacles and Greylags but later were feeding away from other geese. The small Canada Goose that's been present since October was still among the main Barnacle flock out on the point and the 2 Pink-footed Geese were still present. To complete the goose theme, the Brent count at Traigh Mhor increased to 38.

My first 12 Snow Buntings of the season were on the strandline at Eoligarry, a Blackcap was at Creachen, and a Chiffchaff and 2 Bramblings were still at Castlebay.

DSCN2230.JPGDSCN2263.JPGDSCN2254.JPG
 
At Kyles Paible today there were 2 small Canada Geese with 850 Barnies and 270 Greylags with 400 Golden Plover and 42 Redshank in the same field.
On Baleshare there were another 800 Barnacle Geese and 458 Greylags in that horrible bit of ground in between the roads where it’s hard to get a good count but this was made easy when an Adult White Tailed Eagle flushed them all along with another 450 Golden Plover. The Eagle then decided it was hungry and dived into the throng and came out with a Starling. Hardly worth the effort but it flew of slightly to the north for some peace to devour it’s tiny prize.
 
Top