27th June - 2nd July
Unsurprisingly things have gone rather quiet on the birding front, couple this with the poor weather we've been having it's been a bit of come down from what was a very spring. I can't grumble though, we currently sit six species ahead of the total from last year, that said it will still take a mind-blowing effort to break the current year list record.
The 27th's star bird was a Pectoral Sandpiper seen briefly on Ancum before it shot off north and wasn't relocated. We would wait until 29th to add something else noteworthy and it would come from an expected source in perhaps an unexpected place as a fully spooned Pomarine Skua cruised past Maddy on the island ferry as the boat headed out of the bay at Nouster, as she headed south to graduate from Durham University, with a first class honours no less, so a huge congratulations to her! This was followed in the afternoon by a male Red-necked Phalarope on Ancum despite the weather turning for the worse.
With the weather turning quite nasty for the following couple days birds and birders were thin on the ground, however a female Red-necked Phalarope was at Ancum on both the 1st and 2nd July while a juvenile Crossbill pinging around Viggay and Greenwall rounded off a period of birding that was definitely quality over quantity! With another soggy week ahead it seems we're shelving sea-bird work plans for a few days!
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