5th April

A slight change in the weather with the wind switching to the SW and cloud building from the afternoon to produce some showers later on seemed to shake things up a bit resulting in a nice variety of species seen through the day. The highlight - in island terms was a Common Buzzard, first seen over Sangar then shortly afterwards seen heading south over the Observatory towards Sanday with angry Common Gulls making sure it actually did leave!   Other birds included a Black Redstart at Garso, a group of 4 Siskins, a Long-eared Owl which was trapped at Holland House and the first Puffin of the year off the west coast along with counts of 21 Red-throated and 19 Great-northern Diver while four Harbour Porpoise were seen during the morning while the seas were still very calm.



This lovely Long-eared Owl was caught at Holland House in the afternoon