22nd and 23rd June


Overcast and calm in the morning of the 22nd but the clouds parted to produce a glorious, warm, sunny afternoon; mist netting at Holland first thing produced a couple of new passerine migrants including a Mealy Redpoll and a British control Willow Warbler - I recognised the first three letters on the ring from a Chiffchaff earlier in the year, so a quick text later, it was confirmed that it had been ringed on the 16th June on Fair Isle and on its way south already!  

Mealy Redpoll


                Other birds through the day included the Black-throated Diver again in Nouster with a Great-northern Diver, a selection of waders still with 2 Whimbrel and 11 Bar-tailed Godwits the highlights and single House Martin and Swift overhead while there are higher than usual numbers of 1st summer Arctic Terns hanging round the breeding colonies this year with 75 at Bewan alone.

                A quiet day on the 23rd sunny but with a very strong SW wind blazing across the island making observations that little bit harder; wader numbers included 157+ Knot, 120+ Turnstone and 6 Bar-tailed Godwits while a Sparrowhawk was in the north of the island and one of the over summering Chiffchaffs popped up again. 
The first Wheatear fledglings are now out and about

and the first Arctic Tern chicks were ringed,   photos Simon Davies

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