Monday, 7 July 2025

North Uist, Outer Hebrides trip. May 2025 (part 2)

 Our first full day on the islands, we decided to not get up too early after all the travelling of the previous day. From the cottage I saw several pairs of Red-throated Divers calling and flying around.

Red-throated Diver

 

There were plenty of Rock Doves about. The ones here are apparently as pure "Rock Dove" as you can get. 

Rock Dove

 Next breakfast, then off out for a drive round. A Kestrel hovering at the side of the road was the next subject.

Kestrel 
 

One thing we noticed straight away, was the abundance of Short-eared Owls. They seemed to be everywhere, and in areas that I hadn't seen them in the past.

Short-eared Owl

 It was nice to see a Whooper Swan while we were driving around. The orange colouring on it's head due to the iron in the water, where it has been feeding.

Whooper Swan
 

The rest of the day was spent wandering around at RSPB Balranald. It was a recce really, to see what was about and to think about particular photo sessions that I could do there. I did notice that the wader numbers seemed to be lower than usual. The next few images were from the afternoon's wanderings.

Ringed Plover

Common Gull

White Wagtail

Skylark





Friday, 6 June 2025

North Uist, Outer Hebrides Trip May 2025 (part 1)

I have just returned from two weeks staying on North Uist, Outer Hebrides with my wife Kerry. Having been there quite a few times now I knew what I could expect in the way of birds and wildlife, and I wasn't disappointed. One thing we didn't expect was two weeks of sunshine.

This post is about the ferry journey from Uig, Skye to Lochmaddy, North Uist. It takes an hour and three quarters and always worth being on the deck to look out for seabirds and cetaceans. It was fairly quiet on this occasion. The highlights being a pod of Common Dolphins, several Great Northern Divers and a pair of White-tailed Eagles greeting us on the distant hill as we reached Lochmaddy. 

Bird, Larus canus
Common Gull
                     
Common Dolphin
                                                                                                                                                       
Common Dolphin

                                                              

Razorbills and Guillemots
                                                               
White-tailed Eagles

 

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