Bird watching breaks and holidays in the Western Isles

Tiree is a haven for “twitchers” and amateur ornithologists of all ages coming from far and wide at all times of the year.   Corncrakes are one of the more unusual and exciting regular visitors caught up in the spring migration and Spring 2009 saw a male Bluethroat which breeds in Arctic bogs in Scandanavia and Russia!  With a resident RSPB  officer on site, facts and figures are meticulously recorded and such is the interest that information is published monthly in the island newsletter. The island’s coasts, grasslands, lochs and gardens are home to large numbers of  successful breeding birds – Oystercatchers, Lapwings, Ringed Plovers, Redshanks and Snipe to name but a few. Spotted Flycatchers, Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Garden Warblers…the list is endless. Huge numbers of passage waders pass through during certain times of the year on their way North to their Arctic breeding grounds. Ringed Sanderling birds were identified this year hailing from sites as varied as Ghana, Mauritania, Orkney, Iceland and Greenland. The variety of species are too many to mention but Tiree regularly records first sitings of  Continental visitor birds to Scotland.

Just remember to pack those binoculars!