A Three Owl Day

Tuesday May 17

Yesterday, two Curlew Sandpipers had been reported at Baleshire, just down the road. We started there, seeing our first Short-eared Owl of the day as we turned for the bay. We also had our first sighting of a Cuckoo, having previously heard several. 

Whipped-up sea behind us, I scoped the grassy field behind the parking area, seeing only about fifty Ringed Plovers. I re-read the WhatsApp message - they'd been scared off by an Arctic Skua and not seen again.

Back over the causeway to the main road south to Benbecula, via Grimsay. The gardeners who decided that planting a Palm Tree on the Outer Hebrides, was a good idea, were on the supreme end of the optimism spectrum. The ones that survive look like loo brushes.

 


The northern shore of Loch Eynort/Aineort ( depends which signpost you read), seemed to take ages to reach today. The detour to Baleshare, two stops at supermarkets for papers, and busy traffic made the thirty miles seem slow. We always give precedence to work vehicles on the mostly single track roads, so spend a lot of time in passing places - or slaloming in and out of them. 

Room to park at the end of the Eynort road was a bonus. One tour minibus, the occupants stood outside, and one private car. Almost immediately, two Cuckoos burst out of the small wood, chasing each other out of sight. Then, one of them re-appeared, flying strongly away upstream. 

The biggest surprise was hearing a Whitethroat sing from the wood, our first for the isles. Atlantic Grey Seals loafed on offshore rocks, left high and dry by a low tide. A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers quietly fished nearby, and a Buzzard flew over. No Eagles today.

When we drive past Newcastle, we always look out for the Angel of the North, Gormley's massive monoplane like sculpture. On South Uist, we look for the statue of Our Lady of the Isles. It had to be pointed out to us on our initial visit, it's really difficult to miss once you know it's there! It's a 30ft high depiction in granite of the Madonna and Child which was erected on the western slope of Rueval at a height of 170ft above sea level in 1957.It was the work of the sculptor Hew Lorimer and is regarded as one of his finest works. Lorimer gave the Madonna the face of a typical island woman, the statue was commissioned by Father John Morrison and paid for by the people of the island.


 

A few waders of interest had been reported on Lochs Mor and Fada. Not when we were there. We did see two Arctic Skuas pass by, and an increase in the pairs of Arctic Terns which breed on Loch Mor's islands.The full summer plumaged Dusky Redshank then came through as being 'on a hay rick, 500 metres southwest of the Otter's Edge campsite', - a mile away. We've never seen a hay rick on the islands, and couldn't find one to-day either. Maybe someone had walked the dunes behind the camp site.

Pam wanted to visit Committee Road, we drove past Bonnieview apartment for 5.3 miles, before driving the 4.3 mile long Committee road to Sollas and back. We had good views of three Short-eared Owls, unable to photograph any. There were no suitable passing places in which to loiter, and traffic kept moving us on. A grounded owl saw us drive one section six times. By the sixth time, and a clear road, it had flown on.

On the way home we had another owl and a female Hen Harrier.

 

 

 

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