Unseen Birding: Lewis Trip Report Day 5

A typical coastal view on Lewis

For our last day on the island, we decided to stay around the area of the Butt again. As we topped the hill to view the sea, we got a quick glimpse of a White Tailed Eagle being mobbed by a Raven. We then came across a Peregine hunting and watched in awe as it tried to take out a pair of Mallards. Third raptor of the day was a Merlin doing aerial acrobatics as it chased after a Meadow Pipit. It was therefore no surprise with all these raptors around that the area was devoid of any waders. A quick seawatch gave us a few Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and Bonxies and the surrounding fields/machair at Loch Stiapabhat had Ruff, Lapwing, loads of Snipe and some Golden Plover. We spent some time at Loch Stiapabhat watching a feral ferret going about it's business checking out each Rabbit warren.

Golden Plover

We then drove over to the Port Arnol area again, pausing briefly to photograph a Sparrowhawk sitting in a tree. We chose to take our time time looking on the beach for waders as well as bashing nearby vegetation for passerines. This gave us the same species we had previously with the addition of Curlew Sandpiper, Twite, Golden Plover and Reed Bunting. To keep Étienne quiet we decided to Lunch at Morven Gallery again on coffee and cake before heading back to the Butt for one final walk around. This time, the area proved more interesing with a tame Dunlin, Wheatear, lots of Meadow Pipits and Skylark and a single Lapland Bunting. We decided to go back to the house via Dail Beag and caught up with one of the Golden Eagles again, along with a Buzzard. The final tally of the day for raptors was 1 White Tailed Eagle, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Merlin, 2 Kestrel, 5+ Buzzards and 1 Golden Eagle.