Turdus torquatus
Red List
Ring Ouzel is a rare spring passage migrant from April to June on Lewis (1954, 1979, 1992, 1993, 2014, 2015), Harris with seven records (1982, 1988, 1994, 1998, 2012, 2013), South Uist (1982, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2010, 2017, 2018), and St. Kilda with fourteen records between 1977 – 2003. It is very rare on North Uist (2008, 2012, 2019, 2021), Benbecula (1999, 2003), Vatersay (2015), North Rona (1977, 1989), and Mingulay (2012).
There are several records of potential breeding attempts primarily from Lewis and Harris in 1982, 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2013.
There are no records in July.
Ring Ouzel is a scarce autumn passage migrant to South Uist and Barra from August to November. It is rare on Lewis with ten records (2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2020), North Uist with seven records (1976, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2021), St. Kilda with eighteen records between 1989 – 2021, and North Rona with eight records between 1959 – 2001. It is very rare on Benbecula (2014, 2017, 2021), and Mingulay (1975). The highest autumn counts in any one year have been on St. Kilda in 1993 and 1996, when nine and seven birds were present and Barra in 2005 and 2021 when eight and at least nine birds were present on the island.
During the autumn, Ring Ouzel occurs primarily in October with only nine records in September and four in November.
There is one account of three single birds being present in December 1976, but details are vague, and no dates or locations were given.
Undoubtedly birds of Fennoscandian origin occur on passage and a few on spring passage are also likely to see our islands as a destination although there have been no confirmed breeding records.
The first generally accepted record of Ring Ouzel was in 1897 on Barra despite there being three previous records (1865, 1871, 1883) which have not been widely accepted. The other known historical records are from the Flannan Isles (1907-10, 1914), Lewis (1909, 1915), and the Monach islands (1920).
Ring Ouzel, Barra 2019 © Bruce Taylor