Patch Birding Yvonne's Local Patch - 2023

[YvonneB]

71. Black-throated Diver
72. Great Skua
73. Arctic Tern
74. Shelduck

These were recorded yesterday, 15th May 2023

 

[YvonneB]

75. Pied Wagtail on my afternoon walk

 

[YvonneB]

76. Manx Shearwater

Several on a very short seawatch from Askernish yesterday afternoon

 

[YvonneB]

77. Whitethroat - trapped and ringed in the garden this morning.

 

[YvonneB]

78. Peregrine - chasing a Rock Dove in the tpwnship today (the Rock Dove evaded capture).

 

[YvonneB]

79. Stonechat - a juvvy in the garden

 

[YvonneB]

80. Treecreeper

What a fabulous and surprising 80th patch tick for the year! Ringed in the garden. I haven’t seen Treecreeper outwith Stornoway Woods. Definitely Patch Gold!

 

[YvonneB]

81. Storm Petrel

 

[YvonneB]

A quick round up of how it's going here in the Outer Hebrides, seven months into the year:

Name	Patch	Minileague	Species	Points
Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra 10km	Islands	138	227
Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra south	Islands	114	171
Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra north	Islands	104	148
Ian Thompson	Askernish - South Uist	Islands	102	132
Yvonne Benting	Askernish - South Uist	Islands	81	105

Bruce, as ever, coming up with great results
Info from the Patchwork Challenge spreadsheet

 

[YvonneB]

82. Common Tern - spotted flying along the shoreline when i went for a swim

 

[YvonneB]

83. Black-tailed Godwit - approx 45 on the machair today
84. Glaucous Gull - one on the golf course

Photo by @MisterT

 

[YvonneB]

A quick round up of how we are doing in the Outer Hebrides compared to the other Scottish Islands, points-wise

Name	Patch	Species	Points
David Roche	Papa Westray	148	280
John Bowler	Isle of Tiree (west)	166	269
John Bowler	Balephuill, Isle of Tiree	157	240
Steve Dudley	North Westray, Orkney	129	240
**Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra 10km	138	227
**Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra south	114	171
Steve Dudley	North Westray, Orkney	109	168
Matt Bruce	Sandwick	118	167
**Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra north	104	148
David Parnaby	Fair Isle	107	143
**Ian Thompson	Askernish - South Uist	107	139
Sean Morris	Isle of Rum	102	129
Kevin Kelly	Dunrossness - Shetland	86	114
**Yvonne Benting	Askernish - South Uist	84	109
Kevin Kelly	Dunrossness - Shetland	76	100
Sean Morris	Kilmory	82	100
Sean Morris	Kinloch	78	93
Alastair Forsyth	Harray, West Mainland, Orkney	77	88
Russell Neave	Sanday, Orkney (10km)	69	86
Russell Neave	Sanday, Orkney (3km)	49	53
Emma Neave-Webb	Sanday, Orkney (3km)	14	15

 

[YvonneB]

And this table lists the Scottish Islands patch birders by number of species, John Bowler in Tiree leading the field as always and Bruce in Barra doing a brilliant job to represent the OH

Name	Patch	Species	Points
John Bowler	Isle of Tiree (west)	166	269
John Bowler	Balephuill, Isle of Tiree	157	240
David Roche	Papa Westray	148	280
**Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra 10km	138	227
Steve Dudley	North Westray, Orkney	129	240
Matt Bruce	Sandwick	118	167
**Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra south	114	171
Steve Dudley	North Westray, Orkney	109	168
David Parnaby	Fair Isle	107	143
**Ian Thompson	Askernish - South Uist	107	139
**Bruce Taylor	Isle of Barra north	104	148
Sean Morris	Isle of Rum	102	129
Kevin Kelly	Dunrossness - Shetland	86	114
**Yvonne Benting	Askernish - South Uist	84	109
Sean Morris	Kilmory	82	100
Sean Morris	Kinloch	78	93
Alastair Forsyth	Harray, West Mainland, Orkney	77	88
Kevin Kelly	Dunrossness - Shetland	76	100
Russell Neave	Sanday, Orkney (10km)	69	86
Russell Neave	Sanday, Orkney (3km)	49	53
Emma Neave-Webb	Sanday, Orkney (3km)	14	15

 

[YvonneB]

85. Brent Goose

Two on a field in the township this afternoon

 

[YvonneB]

More geese to add to my list with groups of these two species passing over this morning

86. Pink-footed Goose
87. Barnacle Goose

 

[YvonneB]

88. Ring-necked Duck - on the loch opposite the house, a local rarity and a good find by @MisterT

 

[YvonneB]

89. Waxwing - Away for a month visiting family and hoped that there would still be some Waxwings around when we came back, got the apples out straight away and it didn't take long for a Waxwing to find it
90. Long-tailed Tit - A first for the garden, a wee flock of 10 late afternoon too quick for me to get a photo
91. Brambling - ringed this afternoon

With these species it's feeling like winter!

 

[YvonneB]

92. Blackcap - both a male and a female in the garden, bit of a surprise having to wait this long to record this species this year

 

[YvonneB]

93. Woodcock

 

[YvonneB]

Yes!!! Patch tick! Patch Gold!*

94. Rook, photo taken through the window so not quite sharp but there it is.

*Patch Gold is defined by the Patchwork Challenge folks as a bird that is very rare for your patch. This is only the tenth record of Rook for South Uist since 2000.