2nd and 3rd July
Still breezy on the 2nd but this gradually
eased down throughout the day leaving a lovely afternoon and evening but it was
a very quiet day (coverage was also a tad limited!) with the 3 Red-necked Phalaropes still on
Gretchen with a few Dunlin and Knot coming and going through the day.
Another blog post, another Red-necked Phalarope picture!
It
was sunny throughout the 3rd but the little breeze kept the
temperature down; a pod of 4 ORCAS were
seen off the north end of the island in the afternoon and included a big bull
with probably the same group later seen moving through the firth between us and
Sanday just as we were finishing dinner – luckily, due to the fine weather we
had been tempted to eat outside!
The 3 Red-necked Phalaropes were still
faithful to Gretchen with the gradual build-up of post-breeding waders the main
feature of the day including 275 Golden Plover, 19 Sanderling, 120
Oystercatchers, 62 Curlew and 70 Redshank while 3 Herons were on Ancum. Breeding news was a bit of a mixed bag with
new broods of Teal and Gadwall seen on Ancum and some Sand Martin fledglings
out and about but unfortunately a couple of the Arctic Tern colonies visited
today had low numbers of chicks compared to previous visits or had actually
failed completely and several dead Common Gull chicks were found, seemingly
dying of starvation.
Orca heading towards Start Point, Sanday
Knot
Snipe, photos Simon Davies
Comments