Christine's walking & birds blog

Greger suggested a short visit to the Outer Hebrides; he booked ferries and hotels, and off we went. As we drove away from Stornoway, the most numerous birds on roadside lochs were tufted ducks and mute swans (plus one whooper).

We also caught a glimpse of a white-tailed eagle and found a greenshank. A black-throated diver was on another loch, and a ringtail hen harrier was spotted in the distance as the light drained from the dull, damp day.

Next day we drove south, down the length of North and South Uist, crossing the causeway onto Eriskay, and calling a halt at the ferry to Barra. It would have made the day too long to go across, as we had our first hotel on North Uist booked for two nights. About twenty golden plover were in a road-side field.



Driving back across Benbecula, we pulled in near a beautiful curving beach and spotted some waders among the rocks. Two purple sandpipers were foraging near three dunlin and a turnstone.



Ringed plovers and a pretty sanderling were also present.


The following day was bright and sunny but still with a freezing cold wind. We drove to the RSPB reserve at Balranald; just before arriving we spotted a short-eared owl flying strongly to our right; it crossed the road behind us and was soon over the dunes and out of sight. A merlin was swooping low over the fields when we arrived at the reserve car park, but it vanished immediately - like the owl, not to be seen again. We set off to walk the headland. It was wonderful not to be trudging through bogs, but to be on firm dry sand bound by grasses, surrounded by the machair.  The air was full of the sounds of lapwings and skylarks, and a sense of freedom came with the approach to the headland.

A dozen or so black-tailed godwits went over flying north-west; and a flock of forty or so barnacle geese that we'd failed to notice took off. They circled over the sea and landed near the top of the island, while fulmars flew to and fro in protest.


Back at the car park, a probable glaucous gull was looking shifty in the cattle pasture. It lifted off as we approached but went down again on the road to the cemetery.


Driving away from the reserve, we saw three or four black-tailed godwits feeding with some urgency on rough pastureland next to the road.


A bit further on we pulled over onto the turf to look across the shining sands of Vallay Strand. You can walk across at low tide to explore the ruins on the island. Some people drive across; in the photo, two dogs are being exercised the lazy way.



Crossing a machair headland we drove down a road to a parking and picnic area. Gazing out over rocks and sand where a channel of water ran down, I was surprised when a small whitish bird flew right over me and went down in the channel. I'd thought it was a wader, but could see now that it was a tern. It looked up with tilted head, pointed its bill skywards, and called - and a second bird came down to join it. It was quite a thrill to see the yellow bills and know that I was looking at little terns.



I must admit I didn't know that little terns could be seen in Scotland, far less that they breed on the Western Isles. But this is what I love about the serendipitous approach to bird-watching; the sighting came as a huge surprise - and a treat, as I haven't seen little terns for some years. And then it was only at bird reserves like Titchwell Marsh and Farlington, and thus always a kind of twitch-once-removed. I've never "found my own" before.

At about five-thirty we took the small ferry from Port nan Long. It was freezing cold, so we sat inside; but seeing this knobbly rock I went out to get a picture - only realising as I zoomed in that it was speckled with shags and cormorants.


Several terns were perched on  a buoy.



I was fairly sure they were common terns but couldn't be certain as we were past them in no time. However, the pictures prove the identity. What a lovely way to see my first common terns of the year! They didn't seem too bothered by my attentions, and I watched in delight as they remained on the buoy and receded into the distance, a little group of tired migrants maybe, beaten for the moment by the strong icy winds raking the Sound of Harris.

We drove through the lovely mountainous scenery of Harris to a much better hotel than the previous one, right by the ferry terminal for Skye in Tarbert. The following morning we stopped at the greenshank loch of the journey down, and this time saw our first common sandpiper of the year. On the ferry to Ullapool we saw lots of kittiwakes, a couple of great skuas, a white-tailed eagle, and about twenty puffins - either in pairs or threesomes (hmmm, topical). Our four-day trip felt as though it had been much longer - for all the right reasons!