15th February

Bright and sunny throughout with a brisk southerly wind; good coverage through the day consisting of a walk round the coast from the Obs to The Links, working round the Obs and a drive round the lochs produced some notable influxes of a few things hinting at the spring to come.   These included an excellent build-up of 60 Coots (the highest count since 2012) – up to 20 have been present through January and early February, a much-improved count of 83 Skylarks (with a flock of 59 near the school) – c30 over-wintered, year’s high counts of 27 Tufted Ducks, 96 Mallard and 13 Black-headed Gulls and three new Mute Swans on Bewan (with the resident pair still on Garso).

Other totals through the day included 4 Herons, the 2 Whooper Swans still, a Pink-footed Goose seen leaving out to the south, 220 Wigeon, 175 Teal, 6 Pintail, 8 Shoveler, single Hen Harrier and Merlin, 450 Golden Plover, 275 Lapwing, a Knot, 35 Bar-tailed Godwits, the flock of 51 Black-tailed Godwits again on Brides (last seen on the 6th, maybe commuting between here and Sanday), 12 Rock Pipits, 2 Chaffinches, 60 Twite, 2 Common Redpolls and 49+ Snow Buntings.

Black-tailed Godwits

The Brides Great Black-backed Gull pair have started to get aggro already