Ivory Gull on Skye

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29th December 2014

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There is only a single historic record of this species in Skye when one was sent to Harvie-Brown by Mr Ross from the Broadford Hotel on 6th February 1901. It is a winter visitor to Scotland from the high Arctic, with less than 100 records most of these from the Northern and Western Isles. The Uig bird was found by Bill Allan and Martin Lumb on 23rd December, and has remained in the area since. As I have been away for Christmas I only managed to catch up with the bird today, and we found it typically confiding. It only left to join a creel boat heading out to sea and we suspect it is being well fed, picking up discards, and bait scraps. This is a first winter bird and although there was a bird recently on Benbecula, from photographs taken, this looks altogether a different bird.

Bob and Martin