Outer Hebrides for Oriole Birding - 14th May 2025

Our pre-breakfast walk around Daliburgh was once again an idyllic joy.  Six Short-eared Owls were counted and an adult White-tailed Eagle cruised leisurely along the beach. The passerines and waders were the same and the pesky Redpolls once again showed only for me!  A solitary Wood Pigeon was our first for the islands.

Redpoll

Redpoll

Wigeon

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Sandary was our first port of call to give us another chance at the Lesser Yellowlegs and we passed four more Short-eared Owls on the way north.  At the Loch there was once again no ‘Legs and there had been a change round in waders with just a few Whimbrel amongst the loafing Oystercatchers but the two Black-tailed Godwits had been replaced by a pair of Bar-tailed Godwits.  Three Turnstones and three Ringed Plovers were in the paddocks with a multitude of Rabbits while the pair of Common Sandpipers were still along the edges where the Swallows were collecting mud and the Sand Martins were coming down to drink.  A male Hen Harrier drifted through and barely spooked anything bar a couple of attendant Oiks.

Swallow

Swallow

Oystercatcher

Oystercatchers

Bar-tailed Godwits

Hen Harrier

We headed back to Paible where a Corncrake was waiting for us on the lawn of the single house but -ahem – it did not stay too long.  We left Jo, Chris and Maggie at the vans as we walked down to the estuary and the Corncrake soon reappeared for them and fed on the lawn for twenty minutes.  I could scope it from where we were and Gillian was quite happy with her scope views.  At least four others were crexing in the Iris channel heading down to the estuary and two more where back near the house making it is proper Corncrake hotspot.

Corncrake

Corncrake

Corncrake - Chris Darby

Corncrake - Chris Darby - I love this image

Corncrake - Chris Darby

Skylark

ROMMMEEEO!

Skylark 

Hebridean Sheep - I do like a local endemic

There were a few flocks of Dunlin and Ringed Plover zipping around and we got a good look at a male Teal and showy Skylark before walking back to the grinning van team!  A crowing male Pheasant was our first.

Inland and up the Committee Road to the famous raptor watchpoint.  It felt like it was going to be too late and too warm but the next hour was simply superb with raptors continuously on view.  There were three Golden Eagles with one gleaming adult being mobbed for an age by a Kestrel and male Merlin before it crossed the valley to have a pop at the two other Eagles.  Up above them two White-tails soared and four were noted in total.

Golden Eagle and micro Merlin

The first Golden Eagle came back overhead and got dived on by a female Hen Harrier that we never even saw coming!  The male was quartering the slopes and even stopped for a breather.  Buzzards and Sparrowhawk made for a quality session.  It was so calm that we could hear Chaffinches up the slope in a copse and Wren song travelled back towards us too.  Wood Pigeons were spooked by a Buzzard and Stonechats were dotted around. 

Golden Eagle - Chris Darby - the same individual as the 12th - broken tip to 4th primary

A stag Red Deer with his antlers in velvet came to stare us out before strutting back the way he had come and during lunch there was sometime for some quality grubbing and I found several slightly odd looking Gymnocheta.  I could not tell you what was off about them but it seems that I was correct to suggest that they were not the southerly G viridis I seen in late winter and spring down south.  As to what they are, specimens would be required.

Red Deer 

Red Deer 

Gymnocheta sp

Gymnocheta sp

There were Yellow Dung Flies and several Hovers as well as twenty Green Veined Whites, Small Tortoiseshell and even a Four Spotted Chaser.  A cracking Click Beetle landed on me – Ctenicera cuprea – it shone purple at both ends but my pics could not quite capture that.  We could hear huge detonation booms off to the west and discovered that NATO were having a wee war games session using some very serious ordnance.

Green Veined White

Cotton Grass

Lady's Smock

Downlooker Snipefly - Rhagio scolopaceus

Heath Click Beetle - Ctenicera cuprea

Heath Click Beetle - Ctenicera cuprea

The road was followed over the top and down the other side to Botarua and we looked down on a vast sandy bay across to the island of Vallay. Greenshank and Common Terns were seen here while male Hen Harrier and Golden Eagle soared behind us.  We were looking for a Little Gull and I picked it up hawking over the dunes with Black-heads.  A smart 2cy bird with the black W still present.  It was very agile and often ended up over our heads.  An adult White-tailed Eagle powered through and I at last saw my first (and only) Great Yellow Bumblebee on the Trefoil.

Little Gull - Chris Darby

Little Gull - Chris Darby

Red-necked Phalaropes beckoned at Loch Mhor but some dicky parking saw me quarter of a mile away and walking back after dropping off the crew.  Two females and male were seen together at reasonable range but it was horribly hazy and they soon flew to a back pool.  A gaudy white Ruff and his lone Reeve were found and yet another adult White-tailed Eagle was sat upon the ridge line.   Who would have thought haze would be a problem this week.

Ruff - Chris Darby

Stinky Bay is adjacent to Loch Mhor and we rounded up the day checking more tideline waders and listening to 40 Eiders while Great Northerns bobbed offshore and the ten or so assorted navel vessels were scattered across the horizon roosting after a hard day of exercise.

Great Northern Diver - Chris Darby

Chris D and the Great Northern - the tide crept in behind him.  Monarch Isles behind.

An umpteenth White-tailed Eagle and two Short-eared Owls were seen on the undulating journey home where a post dinner amble provided me with another male Hen Harrier, drumming Snipe, Shorties and the reeling Gropper.  What a delightful day.

Hen Harrier - Chris Darby

Grasshopper Warbler - he did like that briar - Chris Darby