24th July

The woolly hats and gloves came back out of the drawers earlier than expected as further strong northerlies, coupled with showery weather, delivered a distinctly unsummery double-jumper day. The flock of Terns at Bewan, now relocated to the sanctuary of the grassy areas in favour of the exposed shoreline, though slightly decreased in number, had increased in diversity: at least 5 Common Terns were huddled among the 1100 or so Arctic Terns, and, best of all, an adult Roseate Tern was found on the edge of the flock. A very rare species on North Ronaldsay, this is only the fifth observatory record and the first for 11 years. Two of the previous records were also in July.

Seawatching produced similar results to the previous few days, with 18 Sooty Shearwaters and 16 Manx Shearwaters passing by.