National Rarity 24th November 2019

[Hawkeye]

Western Isles / Outer Hebrides bird sightings for today, 24th November 2019. Updated throughout the day

Borve, Berneray
A juvenile White-fronted Goose and a pale-bellied Brent Goose are amongst Barnacle Geese this morning

Langass, North Uist
Seven ***Two-barred Crossbills*** were there this morning

Balranald, North Uist
50 Snow Buntings and a Pintail were seen on the reserve today

Ruhba Ardvule, South Uist
Counting period: 08:10 - 10:40
Weather: Wind 0 - f1 NE-SE-E. 8/8 cloud. Temp 5-7.5C
A 2+ hour seawatch this morning produced 1 Eider (S), 1 Long-tailed Duck (S), 10 Red-throated Divers (7S 3N), 1 Black-throated Diver (S), 1 Great Northern Diver (S), 63 Shag (8S 55N), 4 Cormorants (S), 21 Bar-tailed Godwits (N) and 1 Black Guillemot (S).
Also present in the area were Greylag Goose 23, Teal 1, Tufted Duck 23, Eider 24, Long-tailed Duck 36, Goldeneye 2, Red-breasted Merganser 4, Red-throated Diver 33, Great Northern Diver 7, Cormorant 15, Hen Harrier 1, White-tailed Eagle 1, Common Buzzard 1, Golden Plover 2, Snipe 1, Hooded Crow 4, Rock Pipit 4, Twite 63 and Snow Bunting 1

 

[Bruce]

I finally managed to get some reasonable record shots of the Ring-necked Duck on Barra. This bird has spent the past 27 days on Loch Tangasdale where it's been hard to get close to, but today it moved a short distance to the smaller Loch na Doirlinn where it was slightly more approachable. 15 Whooper Swans (plus a dead one on the shore) were on L. Tangasdale and 4+ Slavonian Grebes were off Eoligarry.

Snow Buntings seem to be in short supply this winter. Eoligarry beach is usually a reliable site for them, but so far I've only seen one there briefly. There were however 19 Linnets feeding among the sea rocket this morning.