Lockdown Birding

26th June 2020

We are fortunate that the website collects information from Skye, Lochalsh, and parts of Lochaber including the Small Isles. During the course of the lockdown we held a competition for the best bird find during lockdown. The main rules were that any rarity had to be accepted by the rarities committee if that applied, and the record was obtained in accordance with lockdown rules, either in gardens, on local walks, or during essential work. I drew up a short list of 15 records - 8 of these were seen in or from gardens including Hawfinch, Nuthatch, Tree Sparrow and Rosy Starling. Three were seen on local walks - Marsh Harrier, Curlew Sandpiper and Garganey. A Lesser Whitethroat was heard singing from an office and several other reports were made be essential workers either at work or travelling to work. An independent panel of jodges has now announced:-

1st Lapland Bunting on croft at Harrapool - Neil (the post) Bennett on his rounds.

2nd Shore Lark in garden at Elgol - Aneta MacDonald from her living room.

3rd Curlew Sandpiper at Traigh, Morar - Stephen MacDonald on a local walk.

4th Stock Dove at Kinloch, Rum - Sean Morris from his garden.

All a bit of fun but from a birding perspective, the lockdown happened at a time when lots of birds were arriving to breed or passing through, and mostly in good weather and nobody was put at risk - stay safe out there and enjoy whats on your doorstep.

Bob

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