23rd July - 4th August

There is lots to catch up on in this blog post owing to various staff being away from the island, but nonetheless it's been a busy few days with some good additions to the year list.

The 23rd saw a Whimbrel at Upper Linnay, a species we should start to see more of as the Autumn progresses.

On the 24th a Swift flew south over the obs and straight out to sea, as so many Swifts here tend to do.

The 26th proved to be a good day for seabirds, starting with a Roseate Tern on Bewan. A scarce species for the island, and unfortunately also a short stayer, only briefly being seen on the loch. A seawatch saw 12 Storm Petrel pass the Old Beacon, along with 18 Manx Shearwater and our first Sooty Shearwater of the year.

However, the big seawatch highlight came on the 27th, when a Cory's Shearwater cruised past the Old Beacon, along with 5 Storm Petrel, 7 Sooty Shearwater, and 4 Risso's Dolphin. There was also a young Hen Harrier seen over Brides.

On the 29th a Kestrel showed up at the obs.

The 30th carried on our stint of good seabirds, when a Black Tern was found on Bewan. Again, the bird was only seen briefly before seemingly vanishing off the island. A colour ringed Knot, carrying a watlas tag and motus tag for GPS tracking, was also found on Bewan later in the day. It was later revealed that this bird was tagged on the island of Texel on the 29th April 2022 along with 29 others.

On the 1st a Greenshank pitched up on Gretchen, and on the 2nd a Whimbrel flew south over the obs.

The blog will now be updated more frequently as the Autumn progresses, hopefully with rare birds to report.

Tagged Knot - VB

Roseate Tern - HW