#bragar
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lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Keep an eye out for White-rumped Sandpiper. Very rare visitor to Lewis, mainly after westerlies disrupting the migration along the North-American east coast. Good places to see one are Butt of Lewis or Loch Ordais / Bragar.
September 24, 2026 at 2:00 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Eurasian Wigeon can be seen on the Isle of Lewis soon. Fairly common winter visitor, but scarce during the summer. A good place to see one is Loch Ordais / Bragar.
September 19, 2026 at 2:00 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Pectoral Sandpiper are most commonly seen this time of year. Small numbers in autumn, rarely seen in spring. A good place to see one is Loch Ordais / Bragar.
September 18, 2026 at 2:00 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Balearic Shearwater will be heading South soon. Very rarely recorded. In autumn they migrate to the Bay of Biscay, during which some visit the British Isles. A good place to see one is Loch Ordais / Bragar.
September 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM
sniederb.bsky.social
WeBS at Bràgar today. The heartbreaking part is seeing the local dog walker with her three dogs, ripping through all the resting and feeding birds. Every single morning. When they mention "habitat destruction"... this is it.
(I've talked to her. Nice lady, just zero understanding)
September 13, 2026 at 5:32 PM
wiwildlife.bsky.social
A fine Bulrush Wainscot trapped in Bragar, Lewis last night. Only the second record of the Outer Hebs following the first at South Glendale in September 2023.
August 27, 2026 at 7:32 PM
sniederb.bsky.social
Great yellow bumblebee was our Bràgar highlight today, which also tells you how exciting the WeBS count was.
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#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides
August 16, 2026 at 11:59 AM
daylightwanderer.bsky.social
It's not the yellow brick road but a stunning pathway of Daisys on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis in #bragar. Come with us on tour to see these amazing sights! #daylightwanderer #isleoflewistours daylightwanderer.com
August 15, 2026 at 4:38 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Best chances to see Balearic Shearwater is in the next few weeks. Very rarely recorded. In autumn they migrate to the Bay of Biscay, during which some visit the British Isles. A good place to see one is Loch Ordais / Bragar.
August 14, 2026 at 2:00 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Corncrake will be leaving soon. Second breeding attempts in July, when males again are calling. Good places to see one are Loch Ordais / Bragar or Loch Stiapabhat.
August 13, 2026 at 2:00 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Bar-tailed Godwit can be seen on the Isle of Lewis soon. While some non-breeding juveniles can be seen throughout the year, the arctic breeders arrive in late summer and spend the winter on our coasts. Good places to see one are Loch Barvas or Loch Ordais / Bragar.
August 7, 2026 at 2:00 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Curlew Sandpiper are most commonly seen this time of year. Peak counts in spring are around 5, whereas in autumn they can reach more than 20. Good places to see one are Loch Ordais / Bragar or Sands of Tong.
August 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM
sniederb.bsky.social
Sedge warblers were very visible today at Bràgar, they seem to have done ok this year. Also some reed buntings, which we only rarely see there.
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#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides
August 2, 2026 at 3:47 PM
sniederb.bsky.social
We only see a handful of butterfly species regularly, and tortoiseshell is not one of them. So this was a lovely surprise at Bràgar today.
August 2, 2026 at 3:41 PM
chaneen.bsky.social
We also stopped by a Sheiling, which was set up to show what it would have been like to live in one. And relatively nearby, this arch made from a real blue whale jawbone from a whale that washed up on the island in 1920. It's basically in someone's side yard, just like yesterday's standing stone.
The exterior of the Sheiling recreation in Arnol. It's a squat stone building with a door on the far left. Stones are set up around it as kind of a fence, from either side of the door and all the way around. There's a bit of grass growing from the roof and grassy land behind it. There's a map on a sign to the left of the building; it's illegible. An archway that leads to someone's side yard with two big stone columns behind. It's *enormous* and made from the jawbone of a whale. It's been encased in plaster, because, according to our guide, it began to rot after several decades of being there. A close up of the tip of the jawbone with the harpoon that killed the whale hanging from it. You can see the place where the two sides of the jawbone meet at the top. In September 1920 a corpse of an 80-foot- long blue whale drifted into "Geodha Nam Muc", Bragar Bay. It had a harpoon in its head, trailed by 50 feet of rope. The beached whale attracted a great deal of attention due to its size, but the issue of what to do with it soon took centre stage. Village officials contacted a whaling company to come and retrieve the body, but no one came. The corpse began to rot and the stench was awful so with no one interested, the villagers rolled up their sleeves and dealt with it themselves. The blubber was used for oil, disinfectant, tar, and medicine. It was harvested by tapping into the whale's body and filling bottles and barrels with the gloopy fat. The village postmaster and general merchant, Murdo Morrison, had taken a great interest in the whale and had been a spokesman on behalf of his co-villagers in the matter of its disposal. He decided that he would take a memento and the lower jawbone would make an ideal arch over his gateway at this home, "Lakefield". In the autumn of 1921, a procession of two horses and many villagers pulled the gigantic bones on a makeshift sledge over the rough tracks from the shore to "Lakefield". The bones at the centre were too soft, so part of it was removed until the harder bone was reached and the arch you see today was shortened considerably. The jawbone stands here today at 25 feet tall and 4 tons heavy. The harpoon is suspended at the apex with a decorative droplet on top. Through the middle of each of the two pillars passes a hair-pin band of iron, which keeps the bone in position. The bones at the apex have supporting iron studs down both sides. No one knows where the whale was harpooned or by whom, but its arrival in Bragar is now the stuff of local lore and, of course, pride. The arch, which has more recently been coated in fibreglass/resin for preservation purposes, has been bid upon numerous times over the century since it was raised, but it is not and never will be for sale.
July 17, 2026 at 8:58 AM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Pectoral Sandpiper can be seen on the Isle of Lewis soon. Small numbers in autumn, rarely seen in spring. A good place to see one is Loch Ordais / Bragar.
July 16, 2026 at 2:00 PM
lewisbirdcal.bsky.social
Balearic Shearwater can possibly be seen on the Isle of Lewis soon. Very rarely recorded. In autumn they migrate to the Bay of Biscay, during which some visit the British Isles. A good place to see one is Loch Ordais / Bragar.
July 2, 2026 at 2:00 PM
sniederb.bsky.social
Good timing, saw two at Bràgar yesterday
June 25, 2026 at 4:29 PM
sniederb.bsky.social
Sedge warbler giving everything he's got.
Taken today at Bràgar.
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#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides
June 14, 2026 at 4:47 PM
bluegreen3.bsky.social
On a blue-sky day in 2017, while wandering the rocky shore near South Bragar on the coast of Lewis, I met a man building a memorial stone all by himself. He paused in his work to tell me the story of the Six Brave Men of Bragar.
inlouiswake.wordpress.com/2024/12/28/s...
Six Brave Men of Bragar
On a blue-sky day in 2017, while wandering the rocky shore near South Bragar on the coast of Lewis, I met a man building a memorial stone all by himself. He paused in his work to tell me the story …
inlouiswake.wordpress.com
June 14, 2026 at 9:03 AM
sniederb.bsky.social
Spent some time at Bràgar this morning, hardly any birds around. The local dogs ran through the main sandbank, as they do every morning. No surprise the only fledglings were mute swan and shelduck, which can escape to the water.
A few more years, then dogwalkers will have removed the last few birds.
June 7, 2026 at 6:59 PM