• 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

Bruce

Senior Member
There was a minimum of 14 Woodcock in one small plantation on Barra today, an exceptionally high January count for here. The Ring-necked Duck was still on Loch Tangasdale along with 6 Whooper Swans and the 2 Tree Sparrows were still coming to my feeders.

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YvonneB

OH Bird Recorder
A day of fast moving, squally showers interspersed with sunshine. Water levels are high throughout the island. More New Year birding today and called in at Loch Bee, Northbay, Ardivachar, Balgarva, South Ford, Coot Loch, Lochs Mor and Fada, Stinky Bay, Balivanich and airport beach. We added another 10 species to the year list which now stands at 68.

Of note, there were 2 Scaup on Loch Bee plus many Wigeon, probably over a 1000 birds. On the machair at Kilaulay there was a large flock of Skylarks, I estimated 200+ birds and in amongst them were 2 Snow Buntings. Nearby were 6 Barnacle Geese - not seen too often in South Uist they seem to prefer North Uist.

At Coot Loch a Little Egret was feeding around the edge. Loch Fada was very quiet and Loch Mor held mostly swans with 10 Whoopers and 6 Mutes. There was a Red-throated Diver and a couple of Great Northern Divers in the bay in Balivanich.

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