Yellow-legged Gull

06th March 2019

Patch watching can be extremely rewarding and for Andy Stables at Lower Milovaig it has brought a number of rewards. The latest of these was on 23rd February when Andy found a Yellow-legged Gull viewable from his front door. Unfortunately he only managed a single image from a distance and this is a notoriously difficult species to confirm identification. Fortunately the bird reappeared again on March 3rd when improved images were obtained and it has since been seen by a number of local observers. Yellow-legged Gull is similar to Herring Gull but its breeding range is from the Azores across the Mediterranean and it remains a rarity in Scotland. It is only the 3rd record for the Highland recording area and a first for Skye. However the sighting still has to be ratified by the Scottish Birds Rarities Committee (SBRC). It would bring our total species list to 267.

THE BOOK

"A glorious little gem"

AMAZON

"A book such as this has to look backwards and the author does so succinctly, looking at the work of several of the pioneering naturalists before picking out the publications of JA Harvie-Brown and the Rev. Hugh Macpherson. I know this book fills a real gap in the information available for the Isle of Skye and it will surely sell well at local bookshops."

Andrew Currie Miscellany West Highland Free Press

"A total of 238 species have been recorded, with 14 of those 'red listed' as of high conservation concern ... another innovation has been the inclusion of Gaelic names for some birds. While this is not uncommon in a few other books, the addition of some regional Gaelic names is very unusual and very welcome."

Ray Collier Country Diary 'Up in the Skye' The Guardian

"Illustrated with beautiful photographs of current birdlife on the island, the publication also features sketches by Jean Thomas of The Little Gallery, Portnalong, stimulating the reader's interest further and allowing them to identify species they encounter on Skye."

The Hebridean