Gyr Falcon in North Uist

01st April 2016

In my last blog post I lameneted on the fact that a group of us had spent three days on North Uist searching for a wintering Gyr Falcon only to have missed the bird by minutes. Persistence reaps rewards and on Wednesday we returned and managed to get some magnificent views and stunning images. Though the bird has been taking live prey it has also been taking carrion. A Mute Swan had collided with overhead wires and its carcass provided more than one ready meal. With the bird returning daily to feed it was simply a question of being patient and waiting for it to return to feed. After about 5 hours it came on to the carcass and gorged itself - after such a feed it was doing very little flying and simply sat around resting. There are several historic records for Gyr in Skye and many of them had an unfortunate demise by being shot. At one time the species was divided into Greenland and Iceland Falcon, but now the generic term is used. Bird originating in Iceland are normally grey phase whilst birds from Greenland are white phase. The North Uist bird is a juvenile white phase, a spectacular looking bird, which has now been seen by a good number of visiting birders. There was also a Great White Egret nearby which I was also able to add to my Scottish list. It would be great if either came over the Minch for another addition to my Skye list but for the moment I will simply reflect on what was another exceptional visit to the Uists. There are more images in the UK Gallery.

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