6th - 8th June

The weather over the past few days has been dominated by warm and drifty easterlies, creating interesting but challenging birding conditions trying to battle with the heat haze. We still managed a couple of additions to the year list though despite the fact that spring seems to be drawing to a steady close.

The 6th was quiet but the two Little Stint remained on Gretchen. The days birding was interrupted by our first walk through of Hooking irises to monitor Black-headed Gull breeding success. We manged to ring 22 chicks and saw plenty more nests with eggs and with chicks too small to ring yet, suggesting this species is going to have another good year off the back of their bumper successes of last year. During our time in the irises we also ringed an adult Greylag, a species which always does well on the island and seems to be doing so again this year.

On the 7th a Marsh Warbler was heard singing in Holland House Gardens, perhaps the same bird heard and seen in previous days. There was also a Chiffchaff present. A late report by guests of the observatory of a Spotted Redshank on Gretchen added another species to the year list, despite no staff getting to see it! We also completed a walk through of Loch Park as part of our breeding bird surveys to ring wader chicks and count nests of other species. During the walk through we were able to ring Common Gull chicks, Curlew chicks, Lapwing chicks, and adult female Eider. We also found nests of Arctic Tern, a species which seems to now have also fallen victim to avian influenza, so it's good to see them continuing to attempt to breed.

The 8th saw a very early addition of Roseate Tern to the year list, a species we usually get in July or not at all. The almost summer plumage individual was on Bewan in the morning before being flushed and was not seen again. A Short-eared Owl was also present when an individual was flushed from around Kirbest, before flying in the direction of Holland. A nice surprise came in the evening when we went to put the portable moth trap out at Holland, as a Red-rumped Swallow was seen flying around the buildings closely following a slightly unseasonable House Martin. This is the 4th Red-rumped Swallow of the year despite being a sub-ten for the island.

With more drifty easterlies set to come our way in the following days, we have not given up hope for something interesting still turning up, despite the often slow birding days this years spring seems to have brought us.

Black-headed Gull chick

Common Gull chick