25th and 26th May
A nice day on the 25th, warm and sunny with
light winds started brilliantly with a seawatch off The Lurn, near the Obs
producing a fine drake Surf Scoter flying
south, close inshore with two Common Scoter – the first record for the island
since 2008! Two Manx Shearwaters were
also offshore before the rest of the day was again dominated by wader numbers
which continue to remain high (shouldn’t be long before they start to disperse)
as counts included 310 Ringed Plover, 80 Knot, 427 Sanderling, 152 Dunlin, 6
Whimbrel, 734 Turnstone and a single Curlew Sandpiper still.
Other
new arrivals were slow with a Grey Wagtail at Westness the pick, along with a
Kestrel, a Short-eared Owl, 7 Sand Martins, 11 House Martins, 2 Tree Pipits and
single Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Spotted Flycatcher.
Teamwork! photos Simon Davies
The
stunning 26th also started brilliantly with a pod of 3 ORCAS feeding (just mooching around
really!) in Nouster before they drifted off out towards Sanday; the day’s other
highlight came late morning with a smart female Honey Buzzard seen drifting up the west coast before seemingly
heading away north but it bottled out of the sea crossing ahead of her and
drifted back in allowing the rest of the staff to get fantastic views as it
perched on rocks near Westness.
It
was a similar day to yesterday after this with the exception of the first 2 Little Terns of the year briefly in
Nouster; the Curlew Sandpiper was still present with a reduced number of other
waders while other birds included a Sparrowhawk, single Woodpigeon and Collared
Dove, 9 Sand Martins, 5 House Martins, 2 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff and a Spotted
Flycatcher.
Honey Buzzard, photos Simon Davies
More North Ronaldsay pictures www.wykebirding.blogspot.com
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