18th May

The strong north-easterly wind made for a challenging but productive days birding with several new migrants and a few scarcities found during the morning. The best of these were the earliest Marsh Warbler by a couple of days at Barrenha and a stunning 'bright red' male Common Rosefinch at Trebb. The south end of the Island yielded most of the birds where 2 Red-backed Shrikes spent the day around the Observatory. Other notable migrants included the 2 Grey-headed Wagtails still, 11 Tree Pipits, 3 Redstarts, 19 Willow Warblers, a Wood Warbler at Howar, 4 Spotted Flycatchers and 6 Pied Flycatchers. A Little Stint on the Links was the first of the year, the first-summer Little Gull was back at Bridesness and the male Sparrowhawk was also seen again.

Pied Flycatcher