It feels like a lifetime ago, a quarter of a century, since I walked the coastline of the Uists for a month surveying winter wildfowl, waders and gulls. The inter-connected islands of Berneray, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist form the backbone of the Outer Hebrides, the north-western frontier of our isles. After a few raptor surveys on Lewis, we crossed The Minch and stayed in Lochmaddy for the duration of the surveys. Dan Haywood (of New Hawks fame), Big Jim Middleton and I walked, and at times I imagine we staggered, along the wild winter beaches as we counted birds. One time we took to a fishing boat and were dropped off to wander around uninhabited islands, another time it snowed hard, at some point I was definitely flirting too closely with hyperthermia. Dan used a photo from that time on the cover of his sprawling opus, an epic triple album (oh yeah, that's me birding on the snowy beach of Kirkbost - my album cover tick)
My return had everything to do with the spring passage of Skuas, a spectacle that I had only chanced upon before, in far NE Norway. When the wind is strong enough from the W to NW during May then Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas may be pushed towards the Hebrides as they head to their Arctic breeding grounds. Mid-May, the time of peak passage far off shore, looked by all forecasts to be a period of easterly air-flow but at the end of the first week of May a swirling low pressure system looked to deliver some strong N and NW so I decided to gamble and go earlier, hoping to catch the first of the passage.
I took a full day, leaving Ely long before dawn, to travel north. An early stop at Amble allowed some scoping of Roseate Terns on and over Coquet Island from the dunes - a Grasshopper Warbler reeled from a lone bush nearby. A slight detour along the Firth of Forth to look for rare Scoters, both Stejneger's and White-winged amongst the many remaining Velvets. Both confided, the rarer one particularly so. Then westwards via an inland, loch bound White-billed Diver.
I arrived at Uig in the dark. Next day I took the ferry to Lochmaddy, mid way out the bold wing pattern and light flight of a Sabine's Gull gave an adrenaline surge. Although one had been reported from the ferry a couple of days earlier, I had taken it with a pinch of salt, possibly a young Kittiwake as Sabs are pretty rare in the spring. I double checked that I wasn't making an error, but it continued to look just as a Sabs should. It must have been lingering between the islands as it was seen again on the return crossing that evening.
The week that followed was memorable, so many great moments with birds, both scarce and common. The glorious beaches were full of waders, including smart Curlew Sandpipers and there were Whimbrel everywhere. The uplands were great for raptors and the coastal waders also attracted Hen Harriers, Peregrines and Arctic Skuas that harried and chased the swirling flocks through the golden light of evening.
Seawatching on the first full day, with St Kilda appearing and disappearing on the horizon, in a very fresh NW with frequent squalls I saw 9 Poms move through in 8 hrs, and a very close pod of Risso's Dolphins off the point. Next day the wind dropped but remained in the NW, a casual evening seawatch produced 2 Long-tailed Skuas, a wonderful surprise in just a moderate breeze, winging their way from the wavetops, and up high, to fly over the island.
As the stormy front moved through on my last full day the predicted westerlies frustratingly became SW and strengthened greatly, to gale-force, I did a full 13 hours of seawatching that produced thousands of Manxies and just 2 Pom Skuas. At 7.30 I packed it up, but as I walked back to the car I felt the wind on my back, the wind raged now from due W. My camping pod wasn't available for this last night and with stormy winds I had opted not to pitch the tent and decided to sleep.in the car, old school style. I settled myself down to listen to the football and scanned the sea idly through the window. I immediately picked up a couple of interesting birds that I presumed were Kittiwakes in arcing flight, then a couple more - but they looked dark. I thought I'd give these more of a look. Setting up the scope these darker, distant birds looked like skuas, more specifically Long-tailed Skuas. And they were coming past in rapid succession.
I grabbed my kit and ran back down to the point where for the next 45 minutes I enjoyed an almost constant flow of these graceful skuas heading north. The closest group turned out to be the largest, 11 birds passed in a loose knot, shearing across the wind and oscillating above and below the horizon - magical. A conservative count of 35 birds didn't take into account the 8 or so birds I'd seen just with bins from the car and running to the point. The shift in the wind had turned the tap on spectacularly, with just in hour left of play, indeed I had given up for the day. Had I been in the pod it is likely I would have missed the spectacle I had travelled so far to witness.
Next morning just 4 Long-tails passed in the first hours of the day, I didn't mind as I had seen what I had hoped for - some intense spring-time passage of northern skuas. I think it's a trip I will repeat again soon, I loved being on the islands.
Despite the midday ferry I made it back to York in the wee hours of the morning and next day headed back to Ely, taking in a 2CY male Red-footed Falcon on my teenage turf, in the Lower Derwent Valley and a look in at Gamlingay where the tripping Dotterel were at a short-lived peak of 13 birds, most were dapper females. Full disclosure - the LT Skua on the video was not from the Hebs trip, it's not even my own photo, it's one that Birdo brethren Simon Patient took on our trip up to Varanger, Norway but it does serve an illustrative purpose very well - cheers Spud.
