This was our first full day on North Ronaldsay and I was out early and
walked down to Nouster Bay. There were
at least three Snipe drumming and chipping over the field to the north and on
reaching the beach I found the tide to be quite high but there were five Ruddy
Turnstone, two Sanderling and five Purple Sandpipers feeding amongst the
exposed seaweed. As I looked towards the
jetty I found ten Common Eider on the sea and eighteen Black Guillemots resting
on the end of the jetty. There were two
Great Northern Divers on the far side of the bay and three European Golden
Plover flew over. A single Wheatear was
feeding along the shoreline and as I walked back I found what I considered was
a Common Chiffchaff feeding amongst some low vegetation. Roger then joined me, and we watched the
warbler as it entered one of the Heligoland traps, continuing to feed on the
bushes. There were seven Black-tailed
Godwits and four Common Shelduck on Gretchen Loch.
Mark then arrived with Margaret and David and on seeing the presumed
Common Chiffchaff coached it into the trap and after catching confirmed that it
was a Common Chiffchaff and took it to the ringing hut to process it. He explained that the wing formula confirmed
that it was a Common Chiffchaff pointing out the difference in the number of
feathers showing an emargination between Common Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.
Having processed the Common Chiffchaff we headed to Holland House to see
what the ringers had caught this morning.
Simon was returning with a single bag, which contained a Willow Warbler
and we were then able to see the difference in the wing formula, just after
studying the Common Chiffchaff. This was
to be the only bird trapped during the morning session and indicated that there
were few summer migrants on the island.
After breakfast we walked down to Twingness and then along the coast a short
distance before returning to the bird observatory. We saw just three Common Eiders, a single
Red-breasted Merganser, thee Northern Gannet, eighteen Shag, a Turnstone, a
Great Skua and forty-two Black Guillemot.
As we made our way back towards the bird observatory there was a
Wheatear singing from the stone wall.
Pied Wagtail
Grey Seal
Common Eider
Great Skua
Northern Fulmar
Black Guillemot
Black Guillemots
After getting back to the observatory we went north in the minibus and
after parking we walked out to Tor Ness.
We had three Wheatears before reaching the gate, a Blackcap was observed
several times feeding from the stone walls and a Common Snipe was flying over
the fields. After passing through the
gate we walked south along the edge of the wall having good views of the
Blackcap again. Two Arctic Skua were
observed in flight before they disappeared below the skyline but when we
reached the bottom of the plateau we could see them on the ground. We walked out towards them and managed to get
quite close before a Great Skua passed over and flushed them. Apparently, it Is a regular nesting site for
them and we saw them several more times whilst continuing our circular walk.
male Blackcap
Dark-phase Arctic Skua
Pale-phase Arctic Skua
Pale-phase Arctic Skua
Dark-phase Arctic Skua
Pale-phase Arctic Skua
Pale-phase Arctic Skua
As we approached the edge of the cliff there was another Wheatear and we
saw another Great Skua and a Black-legged Kittiwake over the sea. There were four Common Ringed Plover feeding
and displaying on top of the plateau and four Common Eider and twenty-four
Black Guillemots along the edge of the rocks.
We had yet another Wheatear and there were nine Turnstone and fifty-four
Purple Sandpiper resting amongst the rocks.
Two more Arctic Skua and a Gannet were observed out at sea before making
our way back to the minibus.
Ringed Plover
We drove back down the road and viewed Ancum Loch where we found a single
Whooper Swan before returning to the observatory for lunch.
After lunch we made our way towards the east coast of the island and
specifically Hooking Loch, seeing a Barn Swallow and Common House Martin on
wires before reaching the loch.
Barn Swallow
House Martin
Skylark
We walked into a field to get a better view of the loch and found three
Common Shelduck along with several Eurasian Wigeon and Northern Shoveler. Whilst we were still viewing the loch Mark
had a call alerting him that there was a Garganey on Ancum Loch and so we made
a hasty retreat back to the minibus and then to the loch. We parked the minibus and walked along a path
towards the loch and Lewis, who was still on site, and pointed out the
Garganey. It was a cracking male and we
decide to try and get closer by going to a hide, but it flew into the centre of
the loch before we got anywhere near. We
continued onto the hide, which is in dire need of some restoration or even
replacing but we were able to watch the Garganey without causing any further
disturbance and it eventually came a little closer before disappearing into
some reeds.
From Ancum Lake we returned to the eastern side of the island to look for
a Ring Ouzel that had been reported this morning. We had two Common Snipe and a Wheatear on
route and parked near and old croft where the Ring Ouzel had been this morning.
Northern Wheatear
We soon found the Ring Ouzel feeding in a field at the back of the croft,
but it flew and disappeared and we turned our attention onto Hooking Loch,
which was visible but some distance away.
There was a Common Shelduck and four Northern Pintail on the loch along
with Gadwall, Northern Shoveler and Tufted Duck. We walked down towards the coast and flushed
the Ring Ouzel, which landed briefly before returning to its original field.
When we reached the coast, a scan produced two Red-throated Divers, ten
Great Northern Divers, a Great Skua, two Sandwich Tern and two Black Guillemots
and there were twelve Turnstone on the shore with a Whimbrel flying over.
We called at Holland House on our way back to the observatory where we
found a Blackcap and a Redwing with a Raven flying over.
A walk to the hide overlooking Loch Gretchen after dinner produced three
Common Ringed Plovers and four Bar-tailed Godwits.
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