Living on Great Bernera I have got very used to the abundance of wildlife to be seen on this island. Almost from the moment you turn off the Uig Road and onto the B8059 your chance of seeing something interesting seems to rise dramatically.

In recent weeks I have made several sightings of a vagrant male Kestrel between the road end and Lundale. This stretch of road and moorland has also proved to be ideal territory for the resident Merlins and Buzzards I regularly spot there.

With the arrival of spring we have most of our common summer residents back from warmer climes including the Meadow Pipit, Wheatear and gulls such as the Lesser Black-backed and Blackheaded.

The persistant and well known call of the Cuckoo is being heard in many parts of Bernera and on the shores of some of our fresh water lochs the plaintive piping call of the Common Sandpiper can now be heard. This little bird has one of the shortest stays in this part of the world and by late July to mid August will have raised its family and started to head south again.

Driving across the Bernera Bridge it is always worth keeping one eye on the water especially at high tide when one of my favourite birds can often be seen on Loch Barraglom. This is the Black Guillemot a little diving bird which at this time of the year can be seen in its breeding plumage of black head and body with white wing flashes and bright red legs and gape. Shags and Commorant can also be seen in this area with the latter being larger and paler than it more ocean going cousin.

During the winter months the bridge area is a great spot for seeing Great Northern Divers and their more common relatives the Red and the Black-throated Divers. These superbly adapted birds are able to dive effortlessly for 3-4 minutes at a time with barely a ripple to be seen on the surface but have their feet set so far back on their bodies that they are incapable of walking.

At low tide the causeway leading to Kirkibost provides a good spot to observe wading birds such as Redshank, Greenshank and Ringed Plover. Pairs of Shelduck occasionally make an appearance here too and several species of gull and Grey Heron can be seen here regularly.

Despite the general lack of trees on Lewis the Grey Heron is a very common sight here on Great Bernera and as I walk or drive between Valasay and Hacklete I am often greeted by the sight and sound of the Heron flying off having been disturbed from its fishing post.

Wild mammals are fairly thin on the ground on Bernera with the Otter and Mink providing most sightings of terrestrial animals. The Mink is never a welcome sight as this introduced species is destructive in its feeding habits and may well have hastened the decline of some of the ground nesting bird species. The Otter on the other hand is an animal that never ceases to enthrall those who are lucky enough to come into contact with it.

Here in Valasay I am lucky enough to get occasional sightings of this beautiful animal, but often hear their whistle on a still evening or come upon signs of their recent passing.

Most of the birds that winter on our shores have departed for their summer breeding grounds further north. Many geese and other wildfowl have flown over our croft on their journey home to Iceland and other points north west. However here in the Kyles of Valasay we still have a few straggling Red-breasted Mergansers and on one of the Lochans in Hacklete we have a single Whooper Swan who has wintered with us.

This bird was joined for a day or two by another Whooper in late April, but this bird moved on alone.

Summer has surely arrived here on Bernera with the song of the Skylark filling the air over the moorland and the resident Blackbirds and Thrushes already raising their first broods on a number of local crofts.

By Chris Ryan, May 2006