1st - 4th March

There was no sign of the Northern Harrier through this period so perhaps he has departed for his mysterious summer quarters already; the last entries highlights remained though with the drake Smew still on Bewan and the Black-throated Diver seen in Nouster on most days.

                Other new birds in the last few days included a 1^st winter Little Gull past the seawatch hide on the 2^nd, the first Woodcock of the ‘spring’ near the Obs on the 1^st (with another on the 4^th) and a good group of 11 Common Scoter off The Links on the 4^th – always a scarce bird here!

                White-winged Gull records over this period were more scattered with a 2^nd winter Iceland Gull seen on the 1^st and the 4^th and a single juvenile Glaucous Gull also on the 4^th; raptors were also far less obvious than at the end of last month with just a single Hen Harrier seen on the 1^st and 2^nd.

                The 6 White-fronted Geese and single Pink-footed Goose remained with the Greylags which peaked at 536 on the 2^nd; other wildfowl peak counts included 283 Wigeon and 34 Long-tailed Ducks.   The Black-tailed Godwit was still at Ancum while other wader counts of note comprised 265 Golden Plovers, 189 Purple Sandpipers and 61 Bar-tailed Godwits; other waterbirds included 8 Grey Herons and a peak count of 14 Red-throated Divers on the 4^th.   There was an encouraging whole island count of 669 Black Guillemots counted during the early morning of the 4^th with the first birds of the year noted back ashore – we shall repeat the count in a few weeks time but it seems the numbers are present for a good breeding season.

                Skylarks continued to move north in small numbers during fine weather producing an island count of 129 on the 1^st while other notable landbirds comprised 7 Snow Buntings on the 4^th, 6 Robins counted during especially nice weather on the 3^rd – although these were certainly all wintering birds poking their heads out in the spring-like weather, a male Pied Wagtail on the 1^st and a high count of 5 Reed Buntings while in the lovely weather on the 3^rd 24 Twite and 30 Wrens were counted, most in full song making the most of the day.

Twite, Wrens and Starlings enjoying the sun - photos Simon Davies