Outer Hebrides, May 2025 (1)

Another month, another great trip to Scotland - this time to the Outer Hebrides. It was our first School of Birding School Trip - i.e., a purely birding holiday for 'graduates' of our Schools, where we get to relax a bit more and focus just on in-the-field adventures - and I'm happy to say it was a great success, and hugely enjoyable from start to finish.

Approaching North Uist - flat calm....

Pit-stop on Skye

Sunset from the hotel (above), and the hotel (on the right, below)

We book-ended our trip at the Grant Arms Hotel (our usual School of Birding base), spending a night or two in the Highlands at either end, with a solid six nights on the Hebs in between. We broke up the journey westwards with a couple of birding stops along the road, the first - at a lochside pull-in - producing not only breeding Black-throated Divers but a pair of displaying Wood Sandpipers, a very rare breeder anywhere in the UK.

Morning runs around Carinish - just a 12th Century ruined Temple (and Scotland's first university), mountains, marshes, beaches and big skies....

Onwards to the ferry (via a couple of stops on Skye) and a perfectly still crossing between Uig and Lochmaddy, with the Minch like glass throughout the journey - with plenty of seabirds and Common Dolphins to enjoy before the short drive to our accommodation for the week, the Temple View Hotel in the hamlet of Carinish (if you're wondering where the nearest 'proper' town is, you'd need to get back on the ferry to find it).

White sand beaches, Lewisian Gneiss, turquoise waters, lush green lowlands, picturesque highlands - a hard sell indeed 

A word about our hotel: recently taken over, refurbed and relaunched by the truly lovely Katie and Alex (and super-chilled collie Heidi), we loved it. Great home-cooked food (breakfasts and evening meals were all excellent), wonderfully welcoming and relaxing, and brilliantly run - nothing was too much trouble and we're big fans. We'll be back soon, for sure.... 

What a week it was. I've been fortunate to travel extensively in the Northern Isles and also Inner Hebrides in recent years, but I'd not been to the Outer Hebrides for many years, since I worked on various bird surveying projects out there in the early and mid 2000's; even then, it was mostly Lewis and Harris, and so this was effectively new territory for me.

A happy team!

The view from the highst point of North Uist, looking towards St Kilda

We spent all our time on the three inter-connected islands of the southern group - North Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist. Once again - it's the theme of 2025 so far! - we were blessed with ridiculously good weather, with sunshine being the dominant feature of each day; just wonderful for soaking in not only the stunning scenery and habitats, but also the multitudes of birds we were fortunate to enjoy. Of which - see next post....

In a guiding capacity, for Simon and I, it was a dream - not only were the locations, birds and conditions wonderful, but we had a team who were an absolute joy to be with throughout. Everybody really got on board (as we knew they would, having had the pleasure of their company before), making every day a happy (and funny) one, with an inherently good craic from start to finish.

Barpa Langais cairn and Pobull Phinn (Finn's People) stone circle - two of the neolithic treasures of the Uists

Surveying on the moors, late April '25

Tree Pipit 

Rich and I are back up on the moors again this year, conducting breeding wader surveys for the North Yorkshire Moors National Park - not to anything like the same degree as last year (when we covered the huge, five-yearly survey across the entire NP), but a relatively small area involving Locton, Levisham and Fylingdales Moors.

Male Common Redstart 

As mentioned previously, the weather has been consistently kind for all outdoor activities this spring (and indeed year), and we had wall to wall sunshine last week as we Brown and Shepherded our way across the sites.

Male Ring Ouzel (above); Raven and Carrion Crow (below)

And what a joy it was. On the scrubby, regenerating slopes, Cuckoos, Grasshopper Warblers, Ring Ouzels, lots of Stonechats, Willow Warblers and Whitethroats, pleasingly numerous Whinchats, Redstarts and Tree Pipits headlined, while in the more fertile upland areas, we'd Golden Plovers, Snipe, Curlews and Lapwings to plot on the maps.

Breeding Willow Warblers

Whinchat (above), Curlew (below)

More Tree Pipits in parachute display flight

The coast, late April '25 - Filey

Wheatear freshly arrived on the Brigg 

When I'm over the coast these days it's always a pleasure to sneak in some peaceful birding, and this time I managed a couple of brief sessions back at the old manor.

Migration was evident on both occasions, with a Redstart in Long Hedge (above) , a Grasshopper Warbler in Long Lane, lots of hirundines and warblers arriving, as well as two Cetti's (below) battling it out at the Dams and plenty of other spring joys to behold.

Sand Martins and Swallows at Carr Naze pond

The coast, late April '25 - guiding at Flamborough and Bempton

After returning from Orkney mid-month, late April was a game of two halves - guiding on the coast, and surveying (mostly up on the Moors - see upcoming post). Guiding consisted of a run of my Birding Discovery Days at Flamborough and Bempton, with teams of lovely, enthusiastic clients under blue skies, with a couple of birding sessions at Filey sneaked in while over there (see next post).

  

Good fortune with the weather has been the theme of the year so far - guiding at Tophill Low in March, two Schools of Birding in the Highlands (February and April), our trip to Orkney, guiding on the coast in April and surveying on the Moors and elsewhere have all been blessed with near-ideal conditions, for which I'm eternally grateful....

Wheatear on the golf course 

So with the sun shining and the birds showing off, Flamborough and Bempton were all about the summer visitors, breeders and migrants. Warblers had arrived, and were arriving, in full force - Sedge and Reed Warblers, Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps in good numbers, as well as a couple of Grasshopper Warblers (sometimes showing superbly) ......

(Click on photos to enlarge)

.... and a female Subalpine Warbler (above and below), which we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time for - fortuitously turning up five minutes from our meeting place at the lighthouse, and just before out meeting time of 0830! We had fantastic views as it fed avidly in the morning sunshine, unfortunately soon disappearing as visiting birders began to arrive.

Along with Spotted Crake (below) at Thornwick, scarcities were in the mix, as they always are during my guiding weeks at Flamborough and Spurn - but in truth, the real thrills came from the explosion of arrivals and activity I'd timed the trips for: hirundines everywhere, Wheatears, Yellow and White Wagtails on the golf course, the aforementioned warblers and more, signalling the arrival of spring proper.

And then, of course, there were the seabirds - at Flamborough, and at the always mesmerising, mighty Bempton Cliffs, where we finished every day with a frenzied flurry of Gannets, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills, Shags, Fulmars and Puffins; with such a show right on the doorstep, it'd have been rude not to.

My autumn Flamborough Birding Discovery Days - with a focus on migration - are now available on the YCN website here;

Sparrowhawk in off, and back out to sea, at Bempton

.. while my Seabird Specials in late June and early July are available here.

Bottlenose Dolphins off Flamborough Head