With the poor weather finally breaking up and some more easterly based airflows arriving we finally saw the first trickle of spring migrants arrive on the island. Away from the birding side of things trap repairs have mostly been completed, the nets are up in Holland and in Ancum Willows.
The first Chiffchaff of the year appeared in Ancum Willows on 2nd April as the week slowly ground into life, the following day saw the first Great Skua of 2026 arrive on Gretchen, while a Brambling at Westness was another year tick, it was accompanied by a Song Thrush, our first in a few weeks. As the 4th rolled around a very slight increase in Wheatear kept interest going, and theme continued over the next couple days. The 5th saw the first Whimbrel of the year fly south down the Links and the 7th saw things get busier again, a Woodpigen was at Dennishead while three Jackdaw were present on the island along with a Rook, the first Sand Martins of the year were around Hooking and a Grey Wagtail was at Brigg. The 7th saw a general increase in activity, three Stonechat were present, another Brambling was at the Surgery, five Goldcrest, the first Swallows were also seen along with a House Martin at Sandsheen gave the day a real spring feeling. The first Greenfinch and Goldfinch of the year were also bombing around the obs. The 8th was the pick of the bunch, a Blackcap was at Holland, as were a pair of Siskin, six Barnacle Geese toured the south end of the island while Wheatear numbers shot into triple figures with 134 around the island. A massive flock of 90 Fieldfare spent the day building up in the fields below Cruesbreck, the first Willow Warbler of the year was trapped at Holland, but the pick of the bunch was a Common Crane, initially seen on the deck around Scottigar it did a bit of an island tour eventually ending the day roosting in the irises at Kirbest Myre. The 9th and 10th were mostly filled with the birds from the previous days but another big surprise came in the shape of a Common Swift (we did our best to make it not Common!), it's easily the earliest island record and the earliest Orkney record by some 12 days with the previous early record coming on 22nd April 1992! The 11th was dominated by 40mph easterly gales and washout of a morning, the afternoon was bright and blustery but produced very little, two Redpoll were the only new year list additions.
The coming forecast looks intriguing, if it late May it'd almost thigh rubbingly good, but as its only mid-April (yes, already!) we won't get too ahead of ourselves, although with Maddy off to complete her SFRS basic training course in Aberdeenshire, something surely has to give!
 |
| Common Crane - GG |
 |
| Common Crane - GG |
 |
| Sandwich Tern - GG |
 |
| Swift - GG |
 |
| Wheatear - GG |
 |
| Willow Warbler - GG |
Comments