I was out early again today and walked from the observatory to the beach where I found a Common Ringed Plover, ten Ruddy Turnstone and fourteen Sanderling. I then walked down to the pier finding nine Common Eider amongst the rocks and twenty-two Black Guillemots on the pier.
The pier is a regular roosting site for Black Guillemots and I was able to get some excellent shots without causing any disturbance.
Black Guillemot
Black Guillemot
Black Guillemot
Black Guillemot
I walked back to the beach and met David and we found a Wheatear amongst
the rocks on the beach and three more in the field to the west of the
beach. Roger then joined me, and we had
three Common Snipe and six Whimbrel flew over and Roger found our first Dunlin
of the trip on the beach.
The team then met up and had fifteen Bar-tailed Godwits on Gretchen Loch
before moving onto Holland House to see if anything was being caught in the
nets. As we moved along the road to the
house we found fourteen European Golden Plover and two Common Ringed Plover in
a field, but the nets so far hadn’t been very productive. We went over the road to view the church yard
where we had a Ruddy Turnstone fly over, two Common Snipe displaying and a
Raven. When we got back to the house,
Simon had a female Blackcap to process.
Female Blackcap
A scan of the fields produced a Redwing, which was probably the same bird
we had seen yesterday.
Whilst having breakfast Mark picked up the Kumlien’s Gull, which has been
present around the island for some time.
It flew around over Twingness Point giving reasonable views before it
dropped below the cliff face and so after breakfast we walked to the point hoping
it might still be there.
Initially it didn’t appear to be there but then we found it sitting on
the sea just below the cliffs. I was
able to get some nice shots of it on the sea and then as it flew before it
disappeared.
Kumlien's Gull
Kumlien's Gull
Kumlien's Gull
The darker markings expected on a Kumlien’s had been abraded during the
winter and were not at all obvious.
Whilst we were down on the cliffs a Great Skua and a Raven flew over
along with three Sandwich Terns and on the rocks, there were several Ruddy Turnstone and a
single Purple Sandpiper and more Black Guillemots along with a few Common Eider
and European Shags on the sea.
Black Guillemot
European Shag
Purple Sandpiper
We eventually went back to the observatory and then to Brideness Point
for waders. We found the tide quite high
and therefore had some super views of the waders, that included Ruddy
Turnstone, Sanderling and Purple Sandpiper, at close range and we found a
Black-throated Diver on the sea and a Great Skua flew over.
There were a pair of Northern Pintail and a Little Grebe on Brides Loch
and a pair of Black Guillemots were holding territory on the edge of the loch.
Ruddy Turnstone
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Great Skua
Black Guillemot
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
We worked several old crofts near Brides Lochs, which didn’t produce
anything and as we got back to the minibus Mark received a call from the
observatory staff informing him that a White-tailed Eagle was flying low over
the sea heading north along the west coast.
We were quickly back in the minibus heading for the north of the island
as mark thought that it might continue to Fair Isle. We parked the van and walked to the coast but
there was no sign of the eagle, although we did find five Barnacle Geese and a Wheatear,
and a Raven flew over. Mark then
considered that it had probably come down somewhere but finding it wasn’t going
to be easy. He felt our best chance
might be Tor Ness as we could get a good view of the west coast from
there. We drove the minibus as close as
possible to the gate leading onto Tor Ness and initially looked from the gate
but there was no sign and he suggested that we should move towards the coast as
the land dropped away quite a bit. We
probably only walked about 100 meters and when we stopped both Mark and Roger
noticed something at the edge, which turned out to be the head of the
eagle. It was clearly aware of us but
didn’t appear to be too concerned and I suggested that we should walk south and
then out towards the coast to look back at it.
Mark agreed that it might be a good option but before we moved the eagle
took to flight and we could then see that it was an immature. It circled several times before heading off
south and we could still see it as it was approaching Sanday.
Immature White-tailed Eagle
Immature White-tailed Eagle
We were now late for lunch again but found time to stop and look at Ancum
Loch where we found a Red-breasted Merganser, twenty-nine Bar-tailed Godwits
that included two summer plumaged birds and a single Dunlin and I picked up a
Eurasian Sparrowhawk as it flew low along the southern edge.
After lunch we were heading for the north of the island but stopped
briefly to view Nouster Bay where we found two Red-throated Divers and a single
Guillemot. We parked the minibus near
the end of the road and walked out towards the old lighthouse working the walls
as we did so and then walked back towards the new lighthouse before making our
way back to the minibus. We also went
out to Garso and finally finished working some old crofts and walls. Passerine were still few and far between with
just a couple of Common Chiffchaff found.
On the sea we found a Red-throated Diver and a couple of Gannet and
there were more Ruddy Turnstone and Purple Sandpipers along the shoreline. An Arctic Tern and two Great Skuas flew over
and there were twelve Dunlin on the small loch at Garso. We also had six Wheatear and found a Blackcap
near Ancum Loch as we made our way back for dinner.
Barnacle Geese
Common Chiffchaff
Common Starling
It had been another good day’s birding with the White-tailed Eagle being
a nice surprise and all credit to Mark in applying his local knowledge to
locate it. The Kumlien’s Gull, whilst
only being a race of Iceland Gull, was still a UK lifer. The lack of summer migrants was disappointing
but there is little that can be done regarding the weather but there were good
numbers of waders, with many providing excellent photo opportunities.
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