Record Breaker

A record breaking 2,270 black-tailed godwits arrived on the island this spring, the highest number thought to have ever been counted in Scotland at one time. These large wading birds often stop off in the Hebrides in April and May to refuel during their long migration to Iceland, where they breed.

The island typically only sees a few hundred godwits, in their brick-red finery, dropping in to feed around the well-grazed loch edges and wet grasslands. The previous record was 1,320 birds back in 2013. Let’s hope the Corncrake numbers this year are just as strong. Photo by John Bowler.