6th-9th May

I'll keep this one short and sweet. The wind had swung its way into the west which provided very little throughout day bird wise; The bird of the day came as a bit of a surprise when Gavin phoned to say he'd manage to catch a Nightingale. Usually a bird seen further South but it represents the 9th island record. The Nightingale's only supporting cast member was a Goldfinch seen at Purtabrek.
The 7th was an equally nice day but seemed as though it would fizzle out into nothing, the Nightingale was still around in the morning. At least 4 Sedge Warblers had re-found their territories and were letting each other know. A group of four Barnacle Geese on Brides were new for the year as was the first Grey Wagtail of the year, a rather smart male feeding on the seaweed. A Green Sandpiper was also present around the loch. The 7th also racked up some big totals, no fewer than 52 Great Northern Divers, 124 Arctic Terns and 74 Wheatears.
A glorious day on the 8th also looked set to produce very little, but in the end it did turn up our first Little Tern of 2020 on Nouster and as the weather turned in the late afternoon a Shorelark was located on the grassy expanse between Bewan and Sjaiver.
The 9th saw the weather deteriorate to the point the birding turned into more of a chore as wind the swung into the North and was interspersed with spells of freezing cold rain showers, never ideal. The highlights for the day were a Wood Sandpiper on Gretchen and a Sandwich Tern on Garso.

Nightingale

Sedge Warbler
Barnacle Geese

Shorelark

  

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