Skua Passage

The 11th May dawned wet and calm in contrast to the forecast that had predicted north-westerly winds around force 5 - 6. In the light of this I got back in bed and took a rather relaxed approach to the day. Eventually I got on the road just after 9 am and headed out to Aird an Runair not expecting a great deal in the light winds. How wrong I was! As I arrived 2 Long-tailed Skuas scooted past the headland and before I could get out there 43 Pomarine Skuas in 2 flocks (20 and 23) past by. I could hardly believe that there was such a movement in such calm conditions but with the hope of securing some photos I positioned myself on the rocks at the south-west end of the headland.

Arctic Skua

Pomarine Skuas

Poms

Pom flock

Poms close in

Whimbrel

Between 09:30 - 13:00 I managed to count 27 Long-tailed Skuas, 488 Pomarine Skuas (with a the largest flock being around 40), 25 Arctic Skuas, 21 Bonxies, 140 Whimbrel (in 4 flocks) and a drake Common Scoter heading north in the company of a drake Tufted Duck. All this in relativley light winds and comfort - if only all sea-watching could be so good! For more infomation on todays sightings in the Outer Hebrides please visit the website: Western Isles Wildlife

The North Wind Shall Blow

At last we seem to be out the other side of winter and heading for some warmer weather in the Outer Hebrides. The last week of April and first day or two of May were very cold for the time of year. The 2nd May was notable for a good fall of snow in Lewis and Harris in the evening creating a lovely wintry scene on 3rd May with snow covered hills. This inclement, cold weather held up masses of northbound migrants and our guided tour of Lewis from 27th April - 3rd May witnessed some excellent numbers of waders and wildfowl as well as producing some classy surprises.

The tour started well with probably the bird of the trip (well at least for me) with the discovery of an adult Rough-legged Buzzard hovering at the side of the Pentland Road where the Breascleit and Carloway roads meet. Most Rough-legged Buzzards that occur in the UK are along the east coast or in the northern isles. Most are juveniles with adults being rare; so the occurence of one hovering over the desolate Lewis moors was really something special.

adult Rough-legged Buzzard

The following day we encountered good numbers of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits, Golden Plover and Pink-footed Geese as well as a huge flock of around 600 Icelandic Redwing on the outskirts of Stornoway. The gale force westerly wind and wintry showers certainly made birding difficult and the forecast wasn't showing much in the way of improvement the following day. In fact on the 29th April we headed for the Butt of Lewis in north-west 8, gusting to severe gale 9. The tide was a big one and the swell wrapping around the top of Lewis was incredible making searching for divers rather difficult. Despite the weather and likely due to it we had a very interesting day.

The machair at Fivepenny and Eoropie was covered in summer plumage Golden Plovers with over a 1,000 present whilst a flooded pool close to the road held 65 stunning Black-tailed Godwits. It was whilst watching these that a flock of Redshanks dropped out of the sky to join the godwits. Shortly after we spotted the squat figure of a snipe-like wader. Further investigations revealed the bird to be a Long-billed Dowitcher moulting into summer plumage. This American wader is one of the more regular trans-Atlantic vagrants to turn up in the UK although spring records are much rarer than autumn ones. At least 2 Long-billed Dowitchers have been wintering in the UK this year so there's a fair chance that this bird was one that had successfully wintered on this side of the pond and then headed north as it would have done in its native America.

Long-billed Dowitcher with 2 Redshanks (Tony Marr)

Following all the excitement around the arrival of the dowitcher we moved up to the Butt where we found good numbers of migrant Meadow Pipits in amongst which was a fine, summer plumage, male Lapland Bunting.

Next stop was Loch Stiapabhat which held a decent variety of wildfowl and remarkably our second North American bird of the day, a drake Green-winged Teal that was intruigingly accompanied by a female (Green-winged?). Differentiating female Teal and Green-winged Teal is not for the faint hearted and we left with the pair of ducks slinking off into the emergent vegetation.

Golden Plover at Eoropie

Great Northern Diver in Sound of Taransay

Butt of Lewis

Spring had indeed sprung with masses of migrants trying to battle north but who knows what would have been in Lewis to greet us if the weather hadn't stopped many of these northbound migrants. Thanks goodness the weather isn't wonderful all the time! For more information on tours and recent sightings please visit the website Western Isles Wildlife

Harlequin shows well in North Uist

Since the 1st winter male Harlequin was spotted bobbing about on the sea off Balranald on 18th February, I have made regular visits in an attempt to get a decent photo. The first visit left me with a dripping wet digiscoping camera after it shot out of my pocket and straight into a rock pool, thus limiting me to my SLR and 300mm lens. Every time I turned up this cracking duck was present although the resulting distant, dark blobs in a huge seascape left quite a lot to be desired and even more to the imagination. It was always just too far off-shore for me to produced anything of any use. Then I received some superb images from a visiting birder, Josh Jones which I gratefully posted on my site (www.western-isles-wildlife.com) although I have to admit with a little envy of his obviously good views.

At last today the persistence paid off and we (John Kemp and I) had mega views; initially feeding a reasonable distance away at around 150 - 200ft I was firing off rounds of shots when this happened:

I was quite low to the water as the Harlequin alighted on the sea and could not actually see the bird at all although John was happily clicking away in his more elevated position. After a tortuous wait it eventually swam out and allowed me to take some more images although unfortunately against the light. Luckily for me it then came back around the rocky promontary I was on and clambered out of the water a mere 20 - 30 ft away.

It then continued to make up for all those distant views and slightly disappointing visits by swimming back and forth in front of us for the next 20 minutes whilst it fed quite contentedly.

Happy blowing bubbles

Add to that 3 Iceland Gulls (2 x 1st winter and an adult), a 1st winter Glaucous Gull, a female Ring-necked Duck and an immature White-tailed Eagle to make a good start to the week.

Muirburn havoc in North Uist

On returning home with a car load of trees and shrubs on the afternoon 10th March I noticed the south-east slope of Ben na Coille, North Uist ablaze. The wind was a south-east to easterly, force 7, gusting to force 8. Within the hour the whole western slope of hill was on fire and smoke was drifting over Carinish. By 17:30 all 3 fire crews from the Uists were out fighting the blaze; attempting to contain the fire and stop it from reaching the main road. At 19:30 it was still possible to see flames leaping into the air around the Carinish community woodland and further afield towards Loch Euphort. Why? because someone thought it was a good day to clear the heather from the hill of Ben na Coille for his sheep to have better grazing this year.

Below are the legal requirements for a muirburn:

• By law, burning is only allowed between: 1st October - 15th April: extendable to 30th April by permission of the landowner.
• Notice of your intention to burn in the coming muirburn season must be given in writing to the landowner, and occupiers of land within 1 km of the intended muirburn site, at least 7 days before burning.
• Burning must not start between sunset and sunrise.
• Sufficient people and equipment must be available to control the fire.
• All reasonable precautions must be taken to prevent injury or damage.
• The smoke from the fire must not cause a nuisance.
• If the fire will be within a Site of Special Scientific Interest or other designated site, you must check whether consent for burning is required from Scottish Natural Heritage. Do not burn without such consent.
• An appropriate Health & Safety Risk Assessment must be carried out before burning.

Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier and Merlin did nest in the area as well as Red Grouse and Stonechat, to name but a few. Greenshank could well have nested within the now burnt area in the past but it'll be a good few years before any of these birds nest here again.
Whilst I was photographing the blaze I noticed someone walking back from Loch Carabhat and Ben na Coille. They didn't look unduly concerned but I wanted to know what they had seen and went to meet the crofter. I asked him if he'd been to the back of the hill and he said not. I mentioned the disastorous hill fire and he said that it was all leggy heather that was neither good for man nor beast. I informed the fella that Golden Eagle (could be on eggs now) and various other birds nest there but he just shrugged it off. He said it was how you managed the moorland. MANAGE! The fire was totally uncontrolled and has ripped through Carinish community woodland. It's amazing that people get away with this flagrant vandalism and disregard for people and wildlife.

Maybe it's time for some tighter controls on muirburn.

From Desert to Glen

It was school half term and Johanne had to renew her first aid certificate so as fate would have it we found ourselves on the mainland and staying at the Dolphin Bay Suites in Ardeseir for a few days. The views from the apartment around 15 miles east of Inverness were great with flocks of Common Scoter and Long-tailed Ducks to entertain (well me at least) but planning ahead I had in mind to set up a trip or two with Western Isles Wildlife to explore the Highlands. Therefore the draw of a Desert Wheatear wintering at Rattray Head seemed a very reasonable place to start an exploration of some of the Scottish Highlands I wasn't so familiar with. Under great duress I headed across country on 23rd February to try my luck with the wayward wheatear. I arrived at the carpark near the lighthouse at Rattray Head around 10 am. and wandered onto the beach in reasonably calm if somewhat cold conditions. The thermometre was reading around 1 degree C. but with a breeze off the sea it felt somewhat colder! I scanned the beach opposite the lightouse and saw nothing so I ventured around the dune to the south and was greeted with a sweeping, almost desolate looking stretch of sand which was pretty un-inspiring so I returned to spot the wee wheatear hopping amongst the seaweed and debris back where I'd started. I crouched down on the beach to find the wee bird heading straight towards me and within minutes I was floundering to sort out my camera settings as this lovely bird was hopping withing yards of me. Failing completely to secure anything of any use I watched the bird for a while and noted that it repeatedly returned to a particular perch. It was obviously not a shy individual so I popped myself down a few yards from the stick: within minutes it was hovering around my head and I was failing to get the shot but once I'd settled the bird returned time and time again allowing me to sort out a decent shot or two

Following on from this excellent encounter I headed to St. Combs where as luck would have it someone had reported a King Eider the day before. St. Combs is only a few miles north of Rattray Head and basically on my way home so it would have been insane not to try and have a brief look. I headed into the village and the first obvious view point over the sea. The immediate impression was of an almost bird-bereft sea-scape but a little patience showed that various seaduck species were present and bobbing off-shore; amongst which was a fine drake King Eider. The bird was distant and as I'd buggered my digi-camera after dropping it in a rock pool after photographing the Harlequin at Balranald I just enjoyed the bird through my scope.
The following day was family day so what better thing to do (living on an almost tree-less island) than enjoy some mature Caledonian Pine Forest. We all headed for Aviemore and  went for a stroll in the woods. OK I had a tip off but wasn't really expecting this:

Not only was I not expecting it but the rest of them weren't expecting a full on charge from a huge, turkey- sized, pumped up grouse either! Brillaint!!

Harlequin Duck makes 100

Some days you have good ones and some days not so good but Mr Rabbitts certainly hit the jackpot when he found a 1st winter male Harlequin Duck at Traigh Iar, Balranald yesterday. There are 11 previous records from Scotland and 6 from the rest of the UK which makes this bird the 18th to be found in the UK. There are 3 previous records from the Outer Herbides including the first for Scotland, a male north of Berneray, North Uist on 13th February 1931. A long gap then followed until the second for the Outer Hebrides, a female was found at Coll, Lewis in January 2004. The third record for this archipeligo was also a drake seen off St. Kilda in May 2007 by just a couple of lucky obersvers there on the day.

This 1st winter male is currently hanging around a series of rocky outcrops and a small rocky island south of the coastal car park at Aird an Runair, Balranald. The first photo was taken yesterday against the light in the late afternoon. Unfortunately on clambering back off the slippery rocks my digi camera fell into a rock pool and now, not suprisingly is buggered. The rest of the shots taken today were obtained by holding a digi camera to the eye-piece of my scope so please forgive the quality. The bird spends most of its time a good distance from the shore so securing a decent shot is somewhat challenging. Even so, what a belting bird.

This turned out to be my 100th species in the Outer Hebrides this year and my 282nd species in the Outer Hebrides since January 2005. They do get harder!

A couple of hours on North Uist

The drizzle began to clear, the fence had been repaired and the requested agenda emailed off; so it seemed like a good time to go and look for the reported small Canada Goose at Balranald. 15 minutes later I turned into the access road towards Balranald stopping en route to scan Loch Scaraidh which had been home to an immature, female Ring-necked Duck. Originally being found on Loch Hosta in early November 2012 this stray from America moved to Loch Scaraidh sometime in January during a particularly cold spell that left Loch Hosta mostly frozen. Sure enough she was still present and bobbing around amongst a growing flock of Tufted Duck. Neighbouring Loch nam Feithean held plenty of wildfowl too with over 100 Teal present as well as 7 Shoveler, Wigeon, Mallard and Tufted Ducks although it was strangely bereft of geese. Scanning across the machair from the road didn't reveal many geese either so I headed to Hougharry, just around the corner. The bay was nice and sheltered today and so the calm conditions made locating the distant, immature, male Surf Scoter reasonably easy. This bird also arrived in November 2012 being found on the freshwater, Loch na Reivil at Hougharry. Even in juvenile plumage the large, bulbous bill appeared to show a faint hint that it might develop into something a lot more gaudy with time. 

Immature Surf Scoter, Loch na Reivil, December 2012

 It still doesn't have the colourful bill of an adult but there does appear to be some colour developing and the pale, face markings have now disappeared. The plumage is largely black and at one point today I did think I saw a goasting of a white nape patch although it was distant and even with the scope on 60x magnification it was difficult to pick out the bill pattern.

Now it was time to try my luck with the goose. I drove along the rough track leading to Aird an Runair and soon became aware that there were a lot of geese scattered over the machair. Mixed flocks of Barnacle and Greylag Geese could be seen all over the place. Just then an immature Peregrine came hurtling across, low to the ground. It landed on a fence post for a while before its excited head bobbing led to an unsuccessful  dash at a large flock of Rock Doves. Twite, starlings and doves scattered everywhere, filling the sky with panicked birds before calm was restored and the Peregrine left the scene. I began concentrating on the geese once more but no amount of scanning was revealing the quarry. I could see that there were some Barnacles just over a rise not far away. I parked and walked carefully across to a gate to be greeted to my delight by a reasonably close Richardson's Canada Goose. Well at least that's what some people call them whilst others would say that there's so much interbreeding between them that you can't safely assign them to race.

 It was certainly small with a short, stubby bill and sqaure-looking head. Birds resembling this individual in structure, appear most years in North Uist and are always seen associating with Greenland Barnacle Geese. Hybrids between Canada and Barncale Geese, showing mixed feature are also occasionally picked up in the islands. Descriptions are submitted to BBRC and there's quite a file of pending indiviuals of various races building up. Maybe a suite of characters may enable them to make decisions in the future but what-ever they decide these are pretty good looking for Canada Geese.