27th September

A light southerly wind and sunshine for most of the day didn't really seem likely to produce many new arrivals but nonetheless, a good day's birding was still had by all. The male Northern Harrier performed well all day (including a flypast of the Obs during breakfast!) and in the afternoon it was joined by 2 other Hen Harriers - first a juvenile which was seemingly escorted into leaving the island to the south and then by an adult male which offered great comparison. An adult Pomarine Skua past Bridesness was the first of the autumn, with a juvenile Arctic Skua also in Nouster Bay and 7 Great Skuas seen. Newcomers on the land were limited to a Collared Dove, 3 Whinchats with 2 Yellow-browed Warblers (Holland and Senness) and 501 Snow Buntings also around. Both Meadow and Rock Pipit numbers increased as more birds passed through with 301 and 14 respectively and also up were Bar-tailed Godwits to 63 birds.

 

 Northern Harrier (right) and juvenile Hen Harrier (photo George Gay)

 Snipe (photo Jonathan Scragg)

Twite (photo Jonathan Scragg)