Outer Hebs 3/3

Some machair flowers.

Machair at Balranald. Masses of flowers on the sandy fields.

On Thursday the weather was grey and overcast with some occasional drizzle. We had alook around the info centre at Lochmaddy at an excellent exhibition about St Kilda that most remote of UK outposts lying 40 miles out from North Uist. What a place that must have been, the last of the original St Kildans died only last September. Very sad.

Friday was the exact opposite to Thursday in terms of weather. It was warm, clear and sunny all day.
We headed off right to the bottom of South Uist getting as far as the Pollachar Inn overlooking Barra.
Our first stop was Rubha Ardvule the famous seawatching spot. What a beautiful place it is too. While walking the short way to the point I passed an Otter in Loch Ardvule. It was a huge dog Otter, that slowly melted away as they do. Also seen here were a Great Northern Diver flying N, 1 Arctic Skua, 40+ Sanderling in summer plumage and a Small Heath butterfly.

Otter

Ardvule Point

Not far away we visited the home gallery of Bill Neil wildlife artist. A very interesting and pleasant chap who double up as recorder for the islands wildlife too, specialising in the Bees. He had a lovely 'machair' lawn and Redpoll and Twite in his garden.

The drive back north was excellent. After fish and chips at the petrol station ( this is the outer hebrides you know) we had a nice male Hen Harrier with prey over the road, followed by a low flying Golden Eagle lit up in the afternoon sun. I stopped to get the camera, but I had the 55mm lens on it. By the time I changed it, the eagle was two miles away...

A stop on the machair at Dalabrog had Cuckoo, 3 Sand Martins ( rare here), Short eared Owl and many Early Marsh Orchids.

A second visit to the Red necked Phalaropes found them to be more obliging. Two females chased a male high over the road onto a different loch. The call is a short 'chip' and easy to pick out. Another female was on the other loch and later we had another fly south along the beach, calling. Maybe 6 birds were present.

Red necked Phalaropes, the full sketch.

That dot in the middle? A female Red necked Phalarope. A habitat shot!

And thats it for another year. I'll leave you with two more views of these fantastic islands. We will return...

Outer Hebrides 2/3

Corn Bunting

 Tuesday, bright sunny and clear later on. I had an earlyish start this morning, back along to Balranald, where a Corn Bunting showed down to a few feet allowing some nice photos. A chance I'll never get at home. Behind the info centre the ever elusive Corncrakes were still 'giving it what for' so imagine my surprise when I scanned along a raised ditch bank and saw one sunning and calling away. Some careful stalking, despite the constant attention from Peewits overhead, got me close enough for a reasonable shot.

Back at the car, I told a visiting Yorkshire birder that one was showing in the open, he had to pick himself up before stuttering 'Where is it!' I pointed him in the direction and left him to it...

Corncrake

 After this we had a drive south, on a hunch to find some very rare breeding Red necked Phalaropes. Getting specific info on these is like asking for the crown jewels, so it took me ages of internet searching before I got a sniff of a site. Even then I wasn't convinced I would see any, however, on arrival I soon located two fresh summer females and one duller male hiding in emergent mares tails. I couldn't believe my luck!

Although they were too skulky and distant to photograph scope views were good. My first breeding plumaged ones in the uk ( though I saw loads in Iceland). Keeping with the trend, Im sorry I cant give a location.

Also here were 7+ Rock Doves, 4 Black tailed Godwit, 1 Shoveler, 2 Wigeon, 1 Raven and a Peregrine.

Next stop was Ardivachar Point, South Uist. The highight here was a flock of 27 Ravens feeding on the shore and a song flighting Dunlin over MOD machair land. Tremendous.

What a day!

Red necked Phalarope

Wednesday was a lovely day, sunny with a pleasantly cool easterly breeze.

While having breakfast in the garden, a male Hen Harrier flew over and caught a fledgeling pipit in the field opposite. No sooner had that happened,  one of the 'garden' Corncrakes flew out briefly giving a short but nice glimpse.

Hen Harrier

We headed north today to check out some beaches and to look for orchids. Hornish Strand has to be one of the finest beaches on the planet! We also checked out Lingay Strand and Grenitote that were almost as good.

 I couldnt find any Hebridean Marsh Orchids ( too early) but Early Marsh Orchid of the form coccinea was new for me. A few were scattered around. 

The unspoilt low impact farming here means there are lots of flowers. Yellow flag irises and Marsh Cinquefoil were abundant. Seaside Pansy was a new form for me here.  

The first of only 2 Arctic Skuas of the trip flew low over the moors nearby.

Hornish Strand, North Uist

Yellow Flag Iris, Marsh Cinqfoil, Seaside Pansy, Early Marsh Orchid

Still searching the machair for my main target of the trip we headed back to Balranald ( its really nice here) where we soon found them - 3+ Great Yellow Bumblebees, the rarest of the kind in the UK, found only here and along the far north of Scotland. Great things watched beside the hebridean race of Moss Carder Bee, that was very orange and black a bit like tree bumblebee. I wish I had taken their pcture too, I dont know how I overlooked this. Too busy just enjoying them buzzing about the masses of clover and trefoil.

Great Yellow Bumblebee

So it was back home where the Corncrakes were seen briefly squabbling and jumping into the air, just behind the garden.