29th May - 1st June

With the weather finally turning more favourable with a few drifty easterlies, more birds have arrived on the island over the past few days. Not quite the 'biggy' we have all be hoping for, but nonetheless things have continued to remain interesting.

The 29th started with two 1st calendar year Little Gull on Gretchen, with one in a particularly nice pinkish plumage. The day didn't continue in the same fashion however, with the only other birds of note being the lingering Woodpigeon around Holland and singles of Whimbrel dotted about the island.

The 30th saw the start of the easterlies, but it would prove we needed a day for them to properly get going before they proved fruitful. In light of the slow birding, attention turned to sea watching, with a five hour effort seeing 5 Storm Petrel (the first of the year), 125 Manx Shearwater and over 1000 Puffin past Dennishead. In the evening there were 7 Whimbrel roosting on Ancum.

Things properly started getting going on the 31st with a Reed Warbler and Marsh Warbler being found at the Old Mill. The Marsh Warbler was later trapped and ringed before being released to roost at Holland. A Corncrake was also singing at Peckhole, presumably the same bird returning for it's third year. The highlight of the day came in the form of a Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll found at the north end of the island when it was flushed from Bewan House garden, before flying towards Bewan and giving good views on a gate. Elsewhere in an effort to mist net Black Guillemot, a re-trap that later turned out to have been ringed in 16th of July 1997, broke the current British longevity record by 2 months. 

June appears to have started well and always seems to do better for us with rarities in the past, so hopefully the 1st of the month is just a sign of things to come. There was a Cuckoo flushed from the seaweed at Scottigar, shortly followed by a year tick of Nightjar sat in the Dennishill garden before flying towards Senness. An elusive flycatcher in Holland finally revealed itself to be a Red-breasted Flycatcher after a good few hours of effort trying to get an identifiable view. Elsewhere there was also a Spotted Flycatcher found in the evening at Viggay.

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

Marsh Warbler