12th May

Another enjoyable day of varied birding delivered a further scattering of minor scarcities among the more routine migrants. The first Wryneck of the year spent the day at Holland House giving good views at times, but somehow evading capture in the mist nets. A Wood Warbler and a Goldfinch were also at Holland, while the highlights from the north of the island were a male flavissima Yellow Wagtail and a Black Redstart at the lighthouse, an adult Little Gull on Bewan Loch and 2 flyover Wood Sandpipers.

Wader numbers continued to build up, with notable counts including 622 Sanderlings, 232 Ringed Plovers, 42 Knots and 33 Dunlins.

Common summer migrants included 3 Sedge Warblers, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Common Whitethroat, 4 Garden Warblers, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Chiffchaff, 6 Willow Warblers, 1 Robin and 1 Common Redstart. A single Garganey remained on Hooking Loch, 2 Sparrowhawks and a Fieldfare were present, and 3 Siskins flew over the north end.

 Little Gulls are not usually a regular species here in spring, but today's bird was the fourth one this year.

The majority of Yellow Wagtails recorded on North Ronaldsay are of either the Blue-headed flava or the Grey-headed thunbergi subspecies, so it was nice to see a proper British Yellow Wagtail feeding with the local Pied Wagtails at the lighthouse.