• 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
Western Isles / Outer Hebrides bird sightings for today 20th May 2019. Updated throughout the day

Bolnabadoch, Barra
The **Purple Heron** was again at Loch an Ali, showing occasionally

Aird an Runair, North Uist
2 Long-tailed and 3 Pomerine Skuas flew past this morning. The Barnacle Goose was again nearby on Loch na Reivil.

Loch Sandary, North Uist
2 Ruff were there today

Lochmaddy, North Uist
3 Pomarine Skuas were seen flying over at 22:00

Balgarva, South Uist
No sign of the *Bearded Tit* this morning

Loch Bee, South Uist
A drake Garganey was seen at the SW corner of the loch this morning

Clachan, South Uist
The Little Egret was present in a channel there early morning

Ruhba Ardvule, South Uist
Counting period: 05:40 - 08:20
Weather: Wind NW F3, 8/8 cloud, temp 10C.

A 2+ hour seawatch this morning produced 1 Great Northern Diver (N), 14 Fulmars (2S 12N), 119 Gannets (15S 104N), 2 Shags (1S 1N), 1 Cormorant (N), 25 Kittiwakes (22S 3N), 6 Guillemots (N), 37 Razorbills (N), 85 auk sp (2S 83N) and 2 Meadow Pipits (N - out to sea).
Also present in the area were 2, Tufted Duck 8, Eider 18, Red-breasted Merganser 2, Great Northern Diver 3, Cormorant 12, Common Gull 90, Lesser Black-backed Gull 5, Arctic Tern 12, Rock Dove 7, Sand Martin 4 and Wheatear 1, 3 Basking Shark were also seen offshore
 
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MisterT

Always Birding
WeBS [Wetland Bird Survey] today around Loch Bee with higher than usual wader numbers for this time of year with 88 Oystercatchers, 53 Redshank, 132 Dunlin, 74 Ringed Plover, 9 Golden Plover and 66 Lapwings seen in the count area. Mute Swans numbered 311 and there were 16 Red-breasted Mergansers, 3 Shoveller, 76 Mallard, 15 Shelduck, 14 Teal and 2 Eider on the water. Best birds were a drake Garganey at Gerinish and the Little Egret at Clachan.

littleegret.jpg garganey.jpg WTE.jpg
Little Egret, Garganey & WTE
 
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