UIST Trip with Chris Mills
Travelled up by train to Glasgow on Saturday to join Chris Mills and 6 others for a minibus outing to the Outer Hebrides starting the following day. The route took us to Mallaig where we caught the ferry to Lochboisedale on South UIST.
Our accommodation for the week was the superb Clachan Lodge in North UIST overlooking the sea at Clachan Sands.
Over the 6 days we experienced some magnificent birding moments; the highlights are listed below:
- The bird I most wanted to see was Corncrake, a species I have never seen before. We heard several in the fields by the lodge on the very first evening. Next morning we were up bright and early for a 06.30 start to the RSPB site at Balranald. There were Corncrakes singing in several places but they were hard to find. Chris eventually spotted one in the corner of a field about 40-50 metres away and soon we were enjoying excellent views as the bird moved around, oblivious to our presence. Eventually it was joined by a second bird, much to everyone's delight. A few days later we found our own bird, while Chris was enjoying a bacon sandwich we wandered off to visit a nearby graveyard.
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| courtesy of RSPB |
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| courtesy of RSPB |
- Bird of the trip however was Red-necked Phalarope which we saw at Loch Mor on Benbecula. We saw 4 birds, all in full breeding plumage and barely 25-30 metres from us at one stage. I have seen this species several times previously around the country but always in winter plumage which is black and white in sharp contrast to the vivid colours on view here.
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| courtesy of Dean Eades |
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| courtesy of Dean Eades |
- Red-necked Phalaropes are delicate wading birds that are well-known for their reversed sexual roles in which the small, drab male is solely responsible for incubating eggs and caring for the chicks.
- Once the brighter females have mated they will often move on leaving the males to incubate the eggs and guard any young.
- Being a single parent with lots of predators means you have to be secretive to survive and the males are scarcely seen once the females have left.
- A close contender for bird of the trip was the Peregrine, a bird I have seen hundreds of times. What made this sighting special was after a while the bird went into stoop mode i.e. it plunges steeply downward, wings partially closed, at high speed chasing its prey.
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| courtesy of Fiona McMillan and Shuttercock |
- Short-eared Owls are ubiquitous here and that proved the case with us. As soon as we landed on the south of the island we saw some; in fact we recorded a total of 6 as we travelled north to our accommodation. We saw them every day, wherever we were on UIST, reaching a staggering total of 16 by the end of our tour.
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| courtesy of Steve Duffield |
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| courtesy of Steve Duffield |
- Hen Harriers were also prevalent with at least 23 sightings during our stay. Incredibly 90% of these were males!
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| courtesy of Steve Duffield |
You would expect to see eagles here and we were not disappointed.
- Our first sighting was from the rear of the lodge when a pair of Golden Eagles appeared on the hills overlooking us. More were seen from the established raptor viewing point along the nearby Committee Road a little later on. All in all we made over 10 observations during the tour, exceeding the total I experienced in the Findhorn valley a few weeks earlier. What a great year it has been for me with regard to Golden Eagles!
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| courtesy of Steve Duffield |
- White-tailed Eagles were less abundant. Nevertheless we managed at least 4 excellent sightings, one of which was also from the Committee Road viewing point and another from a site on South UIST.
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| courtesy of Brian Gibbs |
Divers were much harder to find than I expected. Chris explained that it was getting near the end of the season and many had left.
- We had no sightings of Black-throated Divers.
- Red-throated Divers were the most common variety seen, looking absolutely gorgeous in their colourful breeding plumage. At least 7 were seen but they were by no means easy to find.
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| courtesy of Christopher Teague |
- Great Northern Divers were even harder to find but we did see at least 3.
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| courtesy of Christopher Teague |
- Skuas frequent the UIST's and we came across several of the Arctic and Great variety.
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| Arctic Skua courtesy of John Kemp |
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| Bonxie courtesy of Steve Duffield |
- Chris was very proud of the Ring-necked Duck he found at Loch na Reivil.
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| courtesy of Chris Mills |
- The machair of the Uists are important breeding grounds for Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Snipe and Dunlin and we were privileged to visit on a couple of occasions, driving through at a snails pace, observing the birds from inside the van.
- Likewise, we were delighted to visit a colony of breeding Arctic Terns, walking round the outskirts to observe the birds.
- We saw, and heard, several Cuckoos.
- Another specialist bird found in these parts is Twite and we saw them on numerous occasions.
- It goes without saying that we encountered Hooded Crow everywhere we went.
- There were several Whooper Swans still on the island.
- The Eiders were a delight to see.
On the ferry crossings we picked up on a few seabirds:
- Most notable for me were the many Manx Shearwaters.
- There were also plenty of Guillemots, including several Black Guillemots.
- Razorbills were also in good supply.
- There were fewer Puffins but their numbers were still reasonable.
- Fulmars followed us, of course.
On the way to the ferry terminal at the start of our tour we stopped off in Fort William where we saw three noteworthy birds:
- We saw our only Dipper of the tour from a bridge crossing the stream.
- A lovely Spotted Flycatcher was also flitting around the same area.
- Chris alerted us to the sound of a Wood Warbler over the road so we spent some time trying to locate it. Try as we may we couldn't see it and had to settle for hearing it high up in the tall trees up the hill.
Other wildlife was present:
- Top of the list were the Otters we saw on several occasions on the island.
- Red Deer delighted us.
- From the ferry we caught sight of Dolphins and Porpoises.
We missed out on some birds of course:
- It was too windy or too wet to justify a midnight trip to see the Long-eared Owl and its chicks.
- We were a day late for the Osprey despite our best efforts to find it.
- On the return leg of the ferry journey I missed out on a couple of Storm Petrel sightings.
This tour was right up there with the very best including the Fair Isle visit, the Scilly Pelagic trips and the best Norfolk tours.
The vast range and number of birds seen will stick in my memory forever.
