16th-25th July

Numbers of waders continue to increase with 864 Golden Plovers counted on the 20^th and 13 Purple Sandpipers on the 25^th. The first Green Sandpiper of the year flew over West Beach on the 18^th and another was on Gretchen on the 20^th. An adult Little Stint on Gretchen on the 23^rd and 25^th was another first for the year. A Curlew Sandpiper was at Bewan on the 16^th and another at the same site on the 25^th, and a Greenshank was seen on the 24th. A Great Shearwater was seen from the seawatch hide on the 22nd and the first 3 Sooty Shearwaters of the year were sighted at the same place on the 25th.  7 Swift were seen at Holland on the 19^th.  Black Guillemot chicks continue to be ringed, with this year’s total of 167 beating the all-time record of 138 set last year. The 23^rd saw a fantastic night of ringing at Bewan, with nets set for both Storm Petrels and Arctic Terns resulting in 343 birds trapped, 200 petrels, 138 terns and a few waders. The next night 90 more terns were caught, including an Estonian ringed adult.

 Little Stint (photo Carmen Azahara)

 Swift (photo George Gay)

 Purple Sandpiper (photo Carmen Azahara)

 Black Guillemot chick (photo Euan Ferguson)

A pod of at least a dozen White-sided Dolphins were seen well from the Obs during dinner on the 22nd. Although perhaps not as exciting to the observers who initially thought they were Orcas, they are in fact a much rarer sight here (photo Carmen Azahara)