• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

South Uist, Mid September 2014 (1 Viewer)

Mark Lew1s

My real name is Mark Lewis
The usual Sanday team decided they were due an extra week’s holiday prior to the Sanday trip (a warm up?) in September, and given the timing, we decided upon a week exploring South Uist (with a little excursion over to Barra on one of the days). We were hoping for a decent selection of American waders but of course at that time of year we had our fingers crossed for some small stuff from the east as well. The hoped for goodies would all be set against a backdrop of great scenery and a supporting cast of fantastic local birds too, which always makes for a fabulous mix, and as it happened, the weather turned out OK too! What more could anyone ask for?

We based ourselves at Stilligarry between the 13th and the 20th of September, which was a great location in terms of driving to sites further north and south, and was also ideally placed for birding on foot, e.g. around the Howmore area. It’s not a great location for a shop or a pub, but to be honest, not many places are on South Uist.

What follows is a rather personal take on each days birding with added highlights from the rest of the gang.

Day 1

As with so many of these types of trip, the fun starts before you even get there. We had a long drive across mainland Scotland and then Skye in order to make our afternoon ferry at Uig. Not many highlights along the way (although one of the other cars picked up a black grouse somewhere) but on getting to Uig the sky darkened to the shape of a white-tailed eagle, which was great fun. The ferry crossing also delivered. It was flat calm (although a little hazy) which made cetacean spotting from the boat a doddle. We had a few minkes and harbour porpoise, but the main highlights were the several hundred common dolphin that we managed. Some of these remained on the edges of where you could effectively see, but others were a lot more obliging and came pounding in toward the vessel to put on a great show. Birds were a bit thin on the ground but included some very large rafts of manxies, a few black guillemots, and singles of storm petrel and sooty shearwater. We arrived into Lochmaddy in the evening and then headed to our first stake out, the co-op at Creogarry. After filling the car with a few solid and liquid essentials, and meeting up with one of the other teams that were already on-island, we went off to look at a spot where the boys had had a citrine wagtail previously (and a buff-breasted sandpiper very nearby). There was nothing out of the ordinary while we were there, but a flyby male hen harrier was great, and it was smashing to spend an hour or so chatting and soaking up the evening sunshine
 
Day 2

On the morning of the first full day of the trip I walked west across the Machair to the coast and then turned southward towards Howmore, where I intended to loop back towards Stilligarry in time for lunch. A citrine wagtail had been seen earlier in the week among the large numbers of alba wags on the beach at Howmore – it was no longer around, but my walk did produce small numbers of machair waders (including ruff and black-tailed godwit), peregrine, merlin, 7 shoveler on the river, and a fine turtle dove at Howmore itself. Back at Stilligarry at lunchtime, a quick sneak outside to make a phonecall led to one of the guys stumbling into a barred warbler in the garden, a bird that remained for most of the week and showed very well on occasion. Other migrants in the immediate area included whinchat and sand martin.

In the afternoon, we looked to explore the far north of the island, especially the area around loch bee. In the various muddy channels and corners here there were large numbers of waders, including multiple curlew sandpipers and little stints, and a single pectoral sandpiper.

Other stuff picked up by the rest of the team included a common redstart, a flock of 89 pale bellied brents, 3+ buff-breasted sandpipers, and multiple other pectoral sandpipers ( we had 5 birds in total).
 
Day 3

First thing in the morning around the house, and the barred warbler was still present. It had the potential to be incredibly difficult to see, even in such a small area of cover (like most other barred warblers, I guess) which made me wonder how many we were missing.

After an initial look round Stilligarry, I walked a loop around Kilpheder. Migrant wise things were a little sparse, but a pied flycatcher in Kilpheder village was welcome. There was also a chiffchaff here, and a couple of flyover redpoll spp. Other than that there was not a lot going on, aside from the usual raptors (merlin, hen harrier) and an interesting encounter with several black darters along the shores of one of the lochs near Kilpheder.

After lunch, it was up to Loch Bee again, No surprises here – and in fact it felt so slow that I resorted to counting mute swans on the loch – finishing up with a rather healthy count of 328 birds. Also at Loch Bee we had golden eagle, and a couple of curlew sandpiper.

Other goodies picked up by the rest included black-throated diver and pom skua off Rubha Ardvule, and another barred warbler at Smerclate,
 
Day 4

Yet again the barred warbler was at Stilligarry first thing, closely followed by another, much showier one at Hebridean Jewellery, near Loch Bee (also well worth a look if you feel the need for coffee and cake). Around the muddy margins of Loch Bee there were plenty of waders on show, including several ruff, black-tailed godwit, and a couple of greenshank, curlew sandpiper, and little stint.

After returning to the house for lunch I walked a loop around Stonebridge. Again it was quiet for migrants, but I stumbled into another pied flycatcher, which is always a treat. An immature white-tailed eagle put on a fine display along the coast, as did a lone little stint, and I caught up with a group of 6 corn bunting in gardens near Howmore. How depressing to see how difficult these have become to find, in an area considered to be a stronghold for the species. The day ended nicely with a common sandpiper fresh in along the river at Howmore, which resolutely refused to turn into a spotted sandpiper…

The rest of the gang also had three pectoral sandpipers, and a water rail at Gerinish was an interesting record.
 
Day 5

Today was a glorious, sunny and calm day. The Machair seemed devoid of waders and migrants were thin on the ground, so I decided to walk locally from the house in the morning and look at the nearby lochs. On Grogarry lochs there was a good count of 18 little grebes, and a single slavonian grebe was a nice addition to the trip. From here I went onto the beach and made my way south, scanning the flat calm sea and picking up red-throated and great northern divers. I hadn’t gone far at all when I noticed a grebe on the sea. Fully expecting another slavonian grebe I was delighted to find the bird in my scope – it was a smashing breeding plumage red-necked grebe – a pretty good bird in terms of Outer Hebrides records, being less than annual. As much as I enjoyed it though I had a hard time convincing the rest of the guys that it was bird of the trip so far…!

The afternoon must have been pretty grim bird wise as I have no notes whatsoever from it! Other records from the day included a pec sand at Kilauly, and a good count of 14 ruff, along with a few little stints and curlew sandpiper. The barred warbler remained at Hebridean Jewellery.
 
Day 6 – Barra

Our day trip to Barra had been long anticipated, and as such we were in fine spirits as we made the long journey south towards the ferry terminal on Eriskay – a feeling supplemented by the low lying mist making the landscape look stunning as we whizzed past it all in the car. One quick crossing (and a selection of divers and other seabirds) later and we were on the island, and soon birding a fine wooded gully known as the Ardmhore plantation. As the sun rose and the day warmed up, it became clear that this little patch was alive with birds, including migrants such as willow warbler and chiffchaff, blackcap and garden warbler, pied flycatcher and barred warbler (this barred had been found by others before us, but somehow we didn’t know anything about it). After that it was on to Northbay, where we picked up the other crews wood warbler (beating the pants off any barred warbler!) and from there we headed westward around the island, picking off likely looking spots as we went and the odd migrant too, such as further pied flys and garden warblers, along with some of the more majestic residents such as golden eagle.

We had lunch in Castlebay and then spread out to bird the rather extensive area around here. It was beginning to feel like slow going, with only the odd chiffchaff and a calipo added to the days tally, so after a couple of hours we reconvened and made our way back towards the ferry terminal via the east of the island. At Brevig, we stopped to explore the wooded gully, and were soon alerted to the presence of a wing-barred phylosc that one of the guys had seen very briefly. After leading us a merry dance it eventually showed in the canopy in front of us all, proving itself to be a greenish warbler – at last, a proper decent bird! We made it back to the ferry with a few minutes to spare, and on the crossing enjoyed a large raft of 42 black-throated divers, and a more distant raft of about 48 birds that were almost certainly that species too. A great day out
 
Day 7

In the morning I walked the Howmore loop again, but again with very little return, as I could do no better than little stint, a few great northern divers offshore, and the common sandpiper still on the river at Howmore.

In the afternoon we went to have a look at North Loch Eyenort, where a red-breasted flycatcher had been reported. In among the midges we were quickly on to the juv type RBFly, as it snapped and prrrted and from time to time showed very well. Less showy was a second bird – for a while we couldn’t decide whether we had 2 RBflys present or not, but then a couple of us luckier ones got a decent view of a cracking grey headed, orange throated adult male bird, which was stunning. Not many other migrants here, apart from the odd blackcap and willow warbler, and a greenshank calling as it went over.

Other birds included a Lapland bunting over Askernish, and some decent counts of waders, such as 115 grey plover at Heb Jewellery and 4 little stints.
 
Day 8

The last day, which meant a little birding in the morning, a little cleaning of the house, and than a drive north to the ferry. First thing, we checked up on the RBfly situation at North Locheyenort, and got better views of the adult male, which made the effort well worth it. Otherwise, it was dead for migrants everywhere, and the waders were getting a little samey, with a few ruff, little stint and curlew sandpiper around the muddy margins of Loch Bee. On then to the ferry terminal at Lochmaddy, where three golden eagles put on a fantastic display, and then we were soon on the ferry and on our very final leg of the trip. Things seemed a little quiet, with a few sooty shearwaters and great skuas livening things up a little, and the odd common dolphin on show too. Mid channel, things took a massive upturn a a huge bull Killer whale surfaced in front of us, even seen by many of the punters on the deck who didn’t have binoculars. Remarkably, it was missed by one of out team (who it would have been a tick for) and I had to endure a long drive back to Perth with him, trying desperately to talk about anything other than orca…!

All in all, a pretty succesful trip. we hadn't quite scored as we'd have hoped in terms of the american waders, but then I guess we did a little better in terms of eastern scarcities. And of course, any trip that ends with a killer whale, is a trip that has gone well!
 
Another great report on the kind of "find your own" birding I love - in a place I'd very much like to visit.

Cheers
Mike
 
Warning! This thread is more than 9 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top