18th - 19th July
The past couple days have been dominated by very drifty winds and quite humid weather. A few rain showers though have kept the lochs topped up, meaning water levels haven't yet sunk to the almost barren and water free levels of this time last year.
Sabine's Gull GG
The 18th started well with it being the first day in a while not to be battered by strong winds. As the day went on though it turned out the nice weather was not the only thing to be excited about, when a 1st summer Sabine's Gull was found on Bewan. First being picked out amongst Kittiwake by its punitive and moulting head, it then gave flight views, revealing its black leading edge across the outer primaries and greater coverts, and its slate grey half moon shape across the rest of the wing. The bird stayed briefly on Bewan giving good views to those there, before it flew out to the coastal rocks to sit amongst around 600 Kittiwakes. It took a bit of effort to re-find the 'Sab's' within the Kittiwake flock, but gave decent views when it finally was. The bird then dropped out of sight onto the sea but was eventually flushed along with all the Kittiwakes by a Bonxie flying over. Its distinct flight appearance stood out in the big flock, before it left the main group and seemingly flew off on its own high north. Searching likely places for it to pitch up on the rest of the island confirmed the bird to be a short stayer, seemingly having vanished after around 30 minutes from being found.
The 19th followed suit proving to also be a good day for birds. A Corncrake was heard singing early morning in the Breckan area, perhaps the Peckhole bird or a new individual passing through. Throughout the day there was also good movement of Swift, with 3 over Holland and 2 over the obs, all passing immediately out south.
The night of the 18th also turned out a good showing of moths, in both the trap at the obs and the portable trap in a never before trapped area in heather at the back of the lighthouse. Combined, the traps pulled in over 100 Dark Arches, our first Common Rustic and our first True Lovers Knot of the year.
Autumn migrants appear to be slowly showing up in places elsewhere, so all the staff are looking forward to when the season properly gets going after an extremely quiet Summer.
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