• Calidris maritima - Erolia maritima
• UK winter visitor, Scarce breeder
• 21,700 birds wintering in UK (RSPB)
• Medium-sized shorebird, larger, chunkier & darker than dunlin, mostly dark-grey above with purplish gloss, greyish breast, whitish below, black rump, yellow base to short & thin downcurved bill, short yellow-orange legs. Flight: shows thin white wing-stripe
• Gregarious & approachable
• Habitat: Stony beaches, mussel beds, by piers, rocky coast
• Diet: Insects, spiders, crustaceans, and plants
• Breeds: Tundra, Arctic Islands, Canada, North-west Europe (2 Scottish sites: secret keep from egg-thieves & disturbance)
• Winters: Ice-free Atlantic coasts,
• Listen: purple sandpiper RSPB site
• Similar birds: dunlin, turnstone

There is an English report of a purple sandpiper hybridisation with a dunlin

• 166 annual UK records
• Breeds in Iceland, Greenland, North Siberia, and North America
• Winters in the Southern oceans
• Diet: Invertebrates, (plus seeds etc when reaching breeding grounds)
• Habitat: coastal tundra
• BTO records

• Smallest of the seabirds 12-26cm
• Relatives of the petrels
• Feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface (whilst hovering)
• Fluttering sometimes bat-like flight

"Beside the causeway - found in same place 3 days in a row"

See Dawn's photograph of the great white egret

"Settling down for the night on the sands
39 birds (including 7 juveniles)"

"There are an astounding number of siskins in the Southern Isles at the moment. Lewis and Harris seem to have a lot visiting, but it is nothing like the same amount. Feasting on seeds like those of the knapweed.

A very noticeable differencebetween our isles is that many of the Uist lochs now have mute swans (too many swans & lochs to count it seemed). In Lewis & Harris we really notice if swans (usually whoopers) are with us..."

Ring-necked Duck

Scaup !

• Cecropis daurica - Hirundo daurica
• Scarce visitor - 10 UK annual records BTO
• Swallow-like, pale belly, blue upperparts and dusky below, rump often pale, pale throat, nape has pale ring, wings broad, pointed, gregarious outside breeding season
• Breeds: Southern Europe, Asia, Japan.
• Resident: India, Africa - open & hilly country, nests in caves, tunnels
• European & Asian breeding birds migrate to India & Africa
• Diet: Flying insects (so fast swooping flight)

Leurbost - Lochs - Isle of lewis

"I have attached a photograph of a Goldfinch that was in my garden today.
Not rare I suppose, and most folk will already know what one looks like, but there is something interesting in the photo that might be worth passing on.
The bird is eating seeds from Selfheal, ignoring the thistles and Teazel growing close by that these birds are normally assocciated with.
Also, the bird is a male as the red blaze clearly extends behind the eye.
Incidentally, Selfheal is also favoured by the Siskins that have visited my garden"

Received 27.10.07

"Saturday saw a goldfinch and a siskin feeding together on knapweed seeds, the two of them were travelling about together - exclusive of all others... "

Frank S

S

Siskins
Whooper swans
Redshank
Merlins

"Morning - Single Sooty Shearwater on the Braigh"

"Peregrine Falcon, buff-breasted sandpiper, white-rumped sandpiper, Eurasian curlew, American wigeon, ring-necked duck, green-winged teals, Eurasian siskins (75 in one area), blackcap, grasshopper warbler, chiffchaff, chaffinches and a grey heron..."

More details at the Icelandic birding pages

"Debbie reported coal tits, blue tits, great tits, greenfinches and 4 siskins were in her garden near the Stornoway Castle grounds last week "

They are back! These were in the castle Grounds

Trees near Somerfield's carpark in Stornoway have been a favourite haunt for fairly large flocks in the past - makes shopping a bit more interesting!

RSPB guide describes the Iceland Gull as a winter visitor with only 70-80 birds wintering in the UK

(Herring gull-sized)

18 adults

Sightings in Iceland over the last few days include:

"Long-billed dowitcher, green-winged teal, American black duck, American wigeon, barn swallow, bar-tailed godwit, lesser whitethroat, Stellar's eider, Arctic redpoll, bramblings, Pomarine Skuas, ring-billed gull, blackcap, semipalmated sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, white-rumped sandpiper, Eurasian curlew, Lapland buntings, barred warbler, velvet scoter, willow warbler "

More details at the Icelandic birding pages

Received this, generally I try and keep the birding pages specific to our location, but every now and again it could be interesting to have something different to think about over tea-break , and folk drop in to visit these pages from all over the world...so suggestions anyone?
Email birding@thewesternisles.co.uk

"Wondering if you have the answer to a new dilemma......

Went for my walk this morning and met a flock of birds that I don't know. Amazing things which were concentraited over the newly ploughed fields and pastures on the upper hills around here.

At first I thought it was a large flock of some sort of thrush - possibly fieldfares. They have that quick wing-beat then glide in their flight. but unlike fieldfares they disperced fairly easily and did wild looping flights, almost like slow house martins. The most distinctive thing about them was a meliflous, fluid call that put me in mind more of a skylark - only this came out in small bursts.

It was very difficult to judge their size as they tended to fly high - 100ft plus. Because of this hight it was very difficult to identify their colouring - they appeared to have brown backs and a lighter rear part to their underside with a much darker breast area. I couldn't see their heads.

Any suggestions where I might try to look them up? I've tired the BTO, Garden-birds (which is brilliant because of their recorded bird calls) and the RSPB sites - all with no luck. The nearest I get to their call is the Redpoll."

Anna,17th October 2007, South Devon!

I asked Anna what else she had seen in her area this morning to compare with what we get..

"Dawn, 7am - 8am. Walk along highest point near the beacon, cliffs above village, river and sea:
Robin, Blackbird, Blue tit, Great tit, Buzzard, Linnet, Chiff-chaff, Herring gull, Green woodpecker, Dunnock, Long-tailed tit, Pheasant, Starling, Carrion Crow, Raven, Wood pigeon, Song thrush, Wren, Skylark, Greenfinch, Magpie, Jay, plus the flock that I would like help to identify..."

"Found this (well my wife did) next to the car at Butt of Lewis light house...Appears to be a Temmincks Stint. Very small. Yellow legs and a description that matches my field guide"

Anthony Drake

"I believe this bird is probably actually a least sandpiper and NOT a
temminck's stint. Do you have any other photos of it?"

Duncan Watson     12.10.07

"Least Sandpiper...This will be a first record for the Outer Hebrides.  It has been looked for today but as far as I know not been seen".

Brian Rabbitts
County Bird Recorder   12.10.07

I asked Brian if he could confirm it as a least sandpiper:

"I suppose there could be a very slight chance that it is a Long-toed Stint but I would be happy for this to be circulated as a Least Sandpiper. Long-toed have longer neck and legs but of course this is difficult to judge from just one photo. Another point is the less strongly patterned head which indicates Least. Many years ago (1990) there was great controversy over a claimed Long-toed Stint on South Uist. This was eventually rejected by British Birds Rarities Committee as they felt the evidence was not quite good enough for a first record for the British Isles (subsequently an earlier record from Cornwall accepted as a Least turned out to be a Long-toed). The Cornwall one was photographed but not the South Uist one. Hopefully Anthony may have some more photos and will be able to fill in a few things such as 'jizz' - thinking it could have been Temminck's is another good indicator of Least (Long-toed being more like a very small Wood Sandpiper rather than a stint)".

Brian   12.10.07

"it is a Least Sandpiper, but wasn't there tonight..."

Martin
Western Isles RSPB 12.10.07

"Just to add to the 'Least Sandpiper' discussion.
I told my wife this morning after looking at the pictures again that it may be a Least Sandpiper.
The bird was moving around the edge of a pool between the cliff and lighthouse.
It paused every-so-often to snooze and also gave a little shudder/shiver. I'm thinking it was tired and may have been brought in on the South-Westerly wind. I managed to get within arms length at one point and it didn't seem to mind too much.
I have more photo's but the connection here is poor and they may have to wait until Sunday/Monday to upload.
I hope the bird is O.K and that it turns out to be a 'Least'

Anthony D

I asked Duncan what caught his eye about the bird, that made him pretty sure about it...

"Anthony's photo was there at the top of the page but immediately looked wrong for temminck's stint to me, being far too well marked on the head, mantle and wings for temminck's, which is generally a rather plain-looking bird.

Amongst other things, temminck's stint at this time of year would not show the combination of dark feather centres and rufous fringes in the wings nor the combination of dark and rufous on the crown and mantle. In addition, as another confirmatory feature, the bird in the photo showed no discernible primary or tail projection (which temminck's stint should).

Anthony's description was clear that the bird had yellow legs, which although I couldn't initially see in the photo on looking more closely it is perhaps possible to see yellow legs through the grass. There are only two stints (other than temminck's) with yellow legs on the British list, least sandpiper and the even rarer long-toed stint. Although there was only one photo I think it is possible to rule out long-toed stint on the basis of the head pattern, notably the pale supercilia meeting above the bill and the well defined dark loral stripe. The pale rufous (rather than white) fringes to the coverts (as well as the scapulars) are also features indicative of least sand rather than long-toed stint.

The crouched posture (although admittedly this feature is perhaps not reliable from a single photo) also points towards least sandpiper. Anthony's description of the circumstances sounds spot on for a bird having just arrived from across the Atlantic taking refuge on the first available piece of land, in this case the car park at the Butt of Lewis! As I understand it a number of other transatlantic waders have been discovered doing a similar thing at the same location in the past.

I think most of these have moved on very quickly, presumably to more suitable habitat, so the absence of the bird on Saturday doesn't necessarily indicate that it will have perished - I certainly hope not anyway! I'd be very interested to see some more photos once you have access to a better internet connection Anthony, hopefully with some additional photos plus your field notes it should be relatively straightforward for the record to make it through the rarities committee and be confirmed as a first for the Western Isles (and I believe only about the 42nd for Britain). An excellent find!!"

Thanks to all of you for sharing what you know.

Least Sandpiper average less than 1 UK record a year
See a full-size photograph of the least sandpiper
(65KB picture)

• Least Sandpiper
• Calidris minutilla
• Accidental
• 1958 -2004 only 28 UK records BTO
• World's smallest shorebird
• Legs yellowish, bill short & thin
• Breeding adults: brown, dark brown streaks on top and white below, llight line above eye, dark crown.
• Winter adults: grey above
• Juveniles: brightly patterned above, rufous colouration, white mantle stripes
• Breeds: North Canada, Alaska
• Winters: Southern US, South America
• Habitat: Tundra, (migration coastal wet meadows)
• Diet: Small crustaceans, insects, snails, (forage mudflat surfaces)

"We made it up to UIG and found it .... roosting in front of the last two concrete buildings before the cliff.
Brilliant!"

Naomi Mitchison born 189,7 wrote "he said it over and over again like a corncrake...."

Rather well put.
A male corncrake can call 20,000 times in one night, can be heard a mile away, and can call without pause for 6 hours.
They have stopped calling, but one was seen here at the end of September.

"We're on holiday up here in Harris/Lewis for the next one and half weeks....Found a Yellow-Browed Warbler in the 'front garden' of the cottage ... Losgantir first morning up (7th Oct) still here today 10th. Pic' attached..."

Anthony's picture of a yellow-browed warbler

"walking in the castle park...thought at first it was a willow warbler, then remembered they have mostly left now, then got a good view of it' legs which were really black so was sure was a chiffchaff"

"I have also included a Juv Little Stint that i found at Barvas last week"

Frank's photograph of the little stint

Winds from the South forecasted all week, so less Icelandic visitors for a few days.

They had a rare visitor yesterday - a yellow-bellied sapsucker (medium sized-woodpecker).
Also up there in the North over the last few days their rareites include blue-winged teals, green-winged teals, Canada goose, ring-necked duck, American black duck, American wigeon, Eurasian curlew, pectoral sandpiper, and grey herons...

(From the Icelandic bird pages)

"Thought these are common. Maybe cos we have moved from Lancashire.3 Greenfinches seen feeding on thistle seeds in croft at back of our house at Fivepenny.
So close, 3 yards away, I could have got lovely photos"

They are fairly common but only in some areas, and they come and go. A decade ago a few pairs were breeding in in Stornoway, plus a few isolated pairs in small plantations across the islands. Now breeding is much more widespread - there is a lot of birdseed purchased in the Islands! We also get passage migrants.

Saw in BTO magazine the other day about walking in Scotland "you might be fortunate enough to see a ....meadow pipit...."

Some people up from England wrote this summer that they were very excited to see wheatears

It is of special interest when the first wheatears come and the last ones go each season. (Saw a wheatear on sunday...)

John & Carol B