The Minch, Stornoway to Ullapool ferry

Puffin 50
Fulmars
Bonxie 10
Manx shearwater 20
Gannets
Guillemots

A very quiet crossing of the Minch.

Loch Roag, Lewis

White tailed eagle 1

Golden eagle 1

So white tailed eagles are not just glued to a tree on Mull! Great views of a bird soaring with a golden eagle for comparison.

Cnip campsite update

Two red throated divers calling in display flight over the campsite during breakfast. I've seen them do this before on Skye, they sound a bit like geese. A great sight.

Cnip campsite, Caolas Phabaigh, Lewis

Black throated diver 2 sum

Black guillemot 10

Arctic tern 40

Shags 50

Red breasted merganser 8

Eider 3

Gannet 20

Ringed plover 1

It wasn't the best nights sleep, with the wind shaking the tent so I was up early for a look around the bay. The black throated divers were immaculate birds, in full summer plumage, feeding close inshore. Real stunners!

Here is the weather from Lewis...

The storm hit at 10am, strong winds and heavy rain. I watched a neighbours tent destroyed before my very eyes. Miraculously our tent was unharmed.

By 2pm the rain had stopped and the sun came out but the wind remained unabated.

On returning to the camp site, all other tents have abandoned the site, apparently most retreating to B&Bs. The sun is still out but the wind remains. The joys of camping!

Bearnaraigh (off Lewis)

Greenshank  1 agitated
Twite 6
Cuckoo 1 brown         
Red breasted merganser female with 5 ducklings
Greylag 30 inc. 2 family parties          
Common sandpiper 10           
Hooded crow 2
Stonechat 4
Wren 2
Reed bunting 2
Robin 1
Raven  4
Pied wagtail 4

Flowers inc.: bog asphodel and mountain everlasting.
Mammals: common seal

Following the storm this morning, it was real bonus to be able to walk around Bearnaraigh (or Great Bernera) in  sunshine, albeit in still windy conditions.

Two highlights for me, my best view of the holiday of Twite, including a pair feeding young, and an agitated greenshank on a roadside loch, clearly breeding. Great stuff!

Cnip campsite update

At least 3 frog orchids in turf alongside the tent. Also early marsh and northern marsh. The area obviously needs further investigation but the wind and rain has arrived and the priority has become saving the tent!

Cnip campsite, Lewis

Several snipe drumming over the campsite at night,if you can call it night, it never seems to go completely dark here.

An evening stroll, Caolas Phabaigh, Lewis

Red throated diver 8 sum
Black guillemot 20
Red breasted merganser 8

Arctic tern 50

Gannet 5
Ringed plover 1
Razorbill 10

A glorious evening for a walk on the beach, it's 21:45 and I'm sitting on a beach on Lewis in a t-shirt. 

Impressive numbers of black guillemots in the bay and now that the sun has started to set, red throated divers have appeared from nowhere, resplendant in their summer plumaged, and are fishing close inshore. It's easy to pick them out on the mirror like sea. Large numbers of Arctic terns are also fishing the bay, and there are a few razorbills and mergansers.

Now back to the tent for a lager! There's a storm brewing out at sea, with heavy rain and gale force 8 predicted tomorrow, but no sign of it here yet. The air is completely still. Live for the moment I say!

Lewis except the Butt

5 Arctic terns and Fulmars Port Ness and breeding redshank and Lapwings at Loch Stiapabhat. Also visited a black house village.

Butt of Lewis

Gannet  500 past in small flocks
Black guillemot 10
Fulmar  small colony
Kittiwake small colony of approx 100
Guillemot  small colony
Razorbill                 
Arctic tern 50          
Turnstone 5 in sum plumage
Lesser black back gulls with chicks
Herring gulls with chicks
Rock pipits              
Rock dove 2             
Wheatears            
Hooded crows          

Eider 45

Shags 50                              

I probably use the word breathtaking too frequently, but apologies, it really does apply to the Butt of Lewis with its dramatic cliffs an red brick lighthouse built by Stephenson.
It was a hot sunny day, almost cloudless, with bright blue skies and just a slight breeze.