9th-12th July

The 9th saw another day of fine weather so we promptly took advantage and got some more chick ringing done, Trinley provided a good number of Tysties to ring along with a brood of Pied Wagtails, a Herring Gull and couple of other bits. The 9th also saw a start to silage cutting which meant a veritable feast was created for the islands waders, although the cut fields have failed to bring anything in so far they've held good numbers of Oystercatchers with a few Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits in superb summer plumage thrown in to keep interest up. Other waders included a couple of Whimbrel. 

The 10th was started with a Storm Petrel ringing session in which we caught 33 new birds and two re-traps, hopefully we'll manage more in the coming days. The Great White Egret was still on Hooking and the Corncrake was heard singing around Peckhole again.

The following day was a little better migrant wise, a Stonechat was present below the school but the undeniable bird of the day was a stunning adult female Red-necked Phalarope on Bewan. The bird showed well for a short period before magically disappearing when backs were turned! 

The final day of this update was unexpectedly good, not only weather wise. The forecasted rain never really arrived and instead was replaced by long periods of unbroken sunshine. The adult Little Gull put on a fine display over Garso, even mobbing those watching at times. Again the bird of the day was a wader, this time a wholly unexpected Pectoral Sandpiper display flighting to a Snipe, sadly the bird didn't hang around and disappeared off towards Links.

Pectoral Sandpiper                                                          GG

Little Gull                                                                 GG

Red-necked Phalarope                                                   DS