3rd and 4th August

August 05, 2017

3rd and 4th August

Wet and windy on the 3^rd and the paucity of records through the day reflects that time was spent on other tasks than being out in the field as the only records came from round the Obs with 2 Herons, 330 Golden Plover, 8 Bar-tailed Godwits and 10 Knot of note.

The Fulmar chicks have definitely passed the cute and fluffy stage and moved on to the scraggly, angry and spitty balls of vengeful vomit stage

Still overcast and windy on the 4^th but largely dry and we made up for yesterday by spending some good time out in the field which produced the unexpected surprise of a Stock Dove coming in off the sea at Brides – a pretty rare bird on the island, usually seen in early spring and late autumn so an August record is doubly noteworthy! More in tune with the time of year our attentions naturally turn to seawatching and with large Shearwaters finally starting to appear in the North Sea we have our targets – a nice start today produced 10 Sooty Shearwaters, 18 Manx Shearwaters, 2 Storm Petrels and 326 Puffins in just two hours watching.

Other birds of note through the day included the first Gadwall for a few weeks, 890 Golden Plover (the highest count so far this autumn), 40 Dunlin (including a second fledgling in East Loch Park), 10 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Green Sandpiper, 92 Turnstone, at least 17 Arctic Skuas (including 8 roosting together at Bewan), 3 Collared Doves still, a new Chiffchaff and the Goldcrest lingering in Holland.