Snow Bunting Plectrophenax nivalis

Common passage migrant with occasional abundance years. It is also a common winter visitor.

The earliest records go back to the late 1880s, when Evans and Buckley (cited in Pennington et al., 2004) were informed by John Garriock that he had heard of young Snow Buntings being found on Foula.

Numbers vary from year to year. A few birds are seen in the spring most years, but it is in the autumn that passage numbers can reach into the thousands. Birds start to arrive from as early as August, but mainly early September, increasing to larger ‘snow flurries’ by late September – early November.

One bird has been recorded in the summer - on the 7^th July, 1972, but there was no evidence of breeding.

The following large flocks have been documented / recorded:

On 11^th November 1954, 1000 birds were recorded (Jackson, 1966).

On 18^th September 1970, 2000 birds.

180, on the 28^th October, 1996.

600, on the 19^th September, 1998.

300, on the 24^th September, 2000.

250, on the 17^th September, 2003.