2nd-9th August

 Well as you can probably tell from the lack of the blog posts recently we're playing catch up a bit after a whirlwind week. I'll take you through from the start and what it's entailed!

The 2nd started pretty normally, and we decided as group we'd go up mop up on some the Tystie and Tern chicks left around the island. We headed off to Gue Park first, quickly finding that the Tern colony there had finished for the year and most the birds had moved out. We moved onto Trinley and made swift progress finding no further Tystie chicks and with rain showers coming in we abandoned our search. It was about lunchtime now, and thoughts had moved on to just that. As we passed the fence that runs from the road opposite Nether Linnay and along the back of Burray, I caught sight of a bird that made me double take, all I saw was a silhouetted tail and body, but it was an odd but familiar shape...

I think the exact quote was: "Stop the car..... That's the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater!" 

It was sat about 50m away from the Hilux on the fence, bright green and just looking mega. 

Queue a very frantic twenty minutes. The phone reception on the island has been awful for the best part of a month, a big thanks to Vodafone, O2 and all the other useless providers for sorting it out promptly... not!

We somehow got hold of Alison who was very pleased to eventually hear the news through the rubbish phone signal, she informed Pete Donnelly, who had to drive up the runway of the airfield to get Paul and Neil who were grass cutting (we saw this unfold from the airfield lay-by and to see them both start running back to the buggy was hilarious! Think Starsky and Hutch but not quite as spritely) We carried on south, got Anna from the observatory and my mum from Holland and proceeded up to Burray, where the bird was sat, where we left it, still just feeding up and down the fence-line. Knocking bees back like tic-tacs, simply unbelievable! 

The last seven days have been filled with twitchers and islanders coming to see the bird, each of them taking delight in it, and to be honest that's kept us going a bit, you live the stress of each and every twitcher, the pained looks at the airfield, the inevitable question "Is it still about?!" We want them to see it after all, and then seeing the relief and joy has actually been the best part, the noises of that relief and joy, the stories of fraught travel north and near misses in the past make the whole thing worth while! By our count 22 twitchers from as far south as Bristol and Kent have been up for it not mention nearly 30 islanders, who all still think we're mad! 

In recent days the birds habits have changed, it was a bird very much predictable in where it might be, the fence-line at Burray in good weather, the gardens at Holland in poor weather. However the arrival of two Merlins in its roost site at Holland played havoc and it seemed reluctant to return there. I would be too if I was bright green and two murderous Falcons turned up in my bedroom! It's spent the last two days roaming around Longar, Burray and Ancum House fence-lines, we assume it roosted in Burray's garden two night ago but it appears it's found Ancum Willows now and that could hold it if nothing with sharp bits arrives! 

Other birding has been pretty scant since the Bee-eater rocked up, but an arrival of waders has been evident with Green Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, a Wood Sandpiper, Greenshank and Ruff all recorded in the last week. A juvenile Red-necked Phalarope has been ever present on Ancum while the Semipalmated Sandpiper of some 45 days ago is still here enjoying the company of various other waders on the beach at Westness. A Willow Warbler was seen around Ancum on 9th and various sightings of Short-eared Owl have also punctuated the week. 

Anyway, hopefully things will be back on track soon and we'll get down to some real autumn birding, not that we're complaining! 

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (not on Papa Westray this time!)

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater - both GG