• 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

29th December 2018

BrianR

Senior Member
It was fairly quiet during a late morning visit to Aird an Runair, North Uist today. A ringtail Hen Harrier came over the headland and watched until lost to sight well out over the sea heading towards the Monach Islands. One wonders what would trigger such a movement. A Peregrine was also present.

_DSC7451.jpg_DSC7468_2.JPG

At nearby Loch nam Feithean there was a high count of 25 Shoveler. Ten years or so ago Shoveler in winter were to be found only on South Uist/Benbecula lochs with records on North Uist being very unusual. Another change in the last ten years or so have been the number of Little Grebes remaining on the lochs in winter.
 

MisterT

Always Birding
The Rook was again at Kilpheder along with c120 Purple Sandpiper c150 Lapwing on the beach at high tide. At Askernish, Goldfinch and Greenfinch numbers have been steadily increasing these past few weeks with a mixed flock of c30 Goldfinch and c40 Greenfinch visiting the feeders. Some of the birds we are retrapping are 3 and 4 years old, returning almost annually

Rook1.jpg Rook3.jpg Rook5.jpg
 
Top