14th - 16th July

The very quiet period continuing, passage of anything other than the common waders was exiguous at best, although such dry spells are to be expected in mid-summer. A Redpoll was flying around on the 14th and 15th, a Heron was probably a new arrival on the 16th and 4 Swifts were seen on the latter date.

Several separate Arctic Tern colonies were established in the spring, but most of them failed completely last month. One colony does now contain a few chicks, making 2012 at least a small improvement on last year's complete wash-out. Flocks of terns remain scattered around the island, mostly comprised of failed adults and non-breeding first-summer birds like this one.