Day Six

 A fairly pleasant day today, up until mid afternoon anyway, when the wind picked up and then the rain came in.

One to make the most of, because the weather is mostly going to be challenging, one way or another, for the rest of my stay.

Headed east first thing, flushing a Snow Bunting from the road at Howar, and did another North Loch loop walk. A Great Northern Diver flew north over the dunes just after I got out of the car. Robins were at Coo Road, Salties (2), Kinloch and The Gallery, with another at the surgery later and one at the hostel giving a day total of seven.

As I approached The Gallery a Sparrowhawk dived into one of the clumps of bushes and I feared I'd be seeing nothing there, but I needed of worried as I ended up being treated to two Yellow-browed Warblers together.

I really could never tire of them and their fabulously evocative call (although most I've had on Sanday over the two trips have been silent).

The local Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over while I was here too, and I later had it further back down the road towards the car, and there was also a Chiffchaff.

North Loch had plenty of wildfowl as usual, including 6 Whooper Swans (plus two had been on Loch Rummie) and a definite increase in Pintail to 87. As I passed Galilee Twite finally made it onto the trip list (the only trip list addition today), with two calling as they flew overhead towards Tofts Ness.

The rest of the loop was pretty uneventful, although a flock of 10 Snow Buntings went over just as I was getting back to the car. Then headed down to Neuks to give the sea a look, although the walk down took longer than expected when a binocular scan revealed a raptor way out to sea heading my way. Through the scope it was revealed to be a ringtail harrier, and then as it got close enough to identify I had the unusual experience of actually being disappointed to see a Hen Harrier! Wonder whether it had set off from Fair Isle, Shetland or even possibly Norway!

Only seawatched for half an hour, because it was fairly quiet, with the highlights being a Great Skua, 7 Sooty and 3 Manx Shearwaters. Five Red-throated Divers were out in the bay, and a Merlin dashed by close in.

After lunch I checked gardens in Lady village, with a Brambling and 2 Chiffchaffs my reward, and birded along the Cleat road (49 Eider out in Otters Wick the highlight), before heading to the road on the edge of Cata Sands planning to try a wader count on the rising tide. But the wind was already picking up, and straight in my face, which made life tricky even before a dog walker along the edge of the sands flushed everything to the far side of, and soon after that the rain started and I gave up trying to add to rough estimates of 480 Bar-tailed Godwits and 320 Dunlins.

Two Hen Harriers, a male and a ringtail, were seen (seperately) north of the road, too quickly for a photo, although I did (just about) manage to snap the days's second Sparrowhawk.

I headed home early, scanning, as best I could in the conditions, Little Sea and Loch Bea. The latter provided an unlikely minor highlight in the shape of 2 Coot, which, added to the twenty on Loch Rummie earlier gives a apparently new island record count of 22.

It's the little things.

 

Mood Swings

An up a down kind of day today.

Been in a delayed slightly bad mood after receiving an email yesterday saying my Arctic Redpoll from here last year had been rejected. I was quite sanguine about it yesterday, but it's slowly been bugging me more, although I'm not going to go on about it here.

And the grumpy mood has been exacerbated by today having been an irritatingly windy one, pretty much constantly force 6, gusting stronger. Few things are quite as capable as  a nasty gusty wind for getting me irritable, but here it's a fact of life and the general splendidness of the whole place means I'm mostly too cheerful to be bothered by it.

This morning started with the Yellow-browed Warbler still calling and showing well in the garden, in a very fidgety kind of way, and was then taken up by an 8½ mile hike out from the hostel, past the school and airfield, south to Little Sea and then back round the other way to the hostel for lunchtime.

It was tough going until I got to the school, (although a ringtail Hen Harrier was seen briefly in Broughtown) where a Jack Snipe  went over, and then the little wood there held a Chiffchaff , a Goldcrest , 3 Bramblings and the first Chaffinch of the trip.

As you can tell, photo opportunities were thin on the ground in the windy conditions, with everything very flighty or skulky.

The path by the airfield had the first of the day's 5 Wheatears.

The second of the five, only these two hung around for a photo 

It wasn't until I got to Castle Hill Farm that I had anything else really notable, but very nice to get the trip's 4th and day's 2nd Yellow-browed Warbler .

Also here I had a brief Common Redpoll drop in.

After lunch I headed down to Stove, an excellent looking little valley in the south of the island, figuring it would be sheltered from the westerly. It was, but didn't actually have any birds!

Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent driving the roads of Burness and beyond, scanning wader flocks in the hope of something nice and American. But it was only the regular stuff, although including good numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits which always look a little out of place on grassy fields.

Up near Whitemill a Stonechat, a lovely bright individual, was number 100 for the trip list 

From here I headed over to the Cleat road for the final hour of the day, but en route a totally random stop at a garden I've never looked at before got me lucking into a nice (and surprisingly vocal) Spotted Flycatcher

 

The main reason for doing Cleat in the evening is that it can be good for Short-eared Owl. Today was no exception. I had up to three together, often too close to focus (although the fading light didn't help), and studying the photos, such as they are, suggests there may actually have been four different birds.

At one point a ringtail Hen Harrier arrived on the scene

And there was even a bit of a tussle between it and one of the owls. Exhilarating stuff, but sadly capturing it properly was beyond the limits of my camera and me

And that was the perfect way to end the day. 

So much of it was spent stewing over writing descriptions of rare birds that then just become such an irritating inconvenience that I'd sooner not see any, so it was nice to end with the things that for me most encapsulate what it is that's so fantastic about birding: chance encounters with relatively common, but out of context, stuff, and the downright spectacular.

Like I say, often too close to focus!

Day Four

 A nice full day out in the field today (apart from a fortuitously-timed late lunch back at the hostel), very much needed after yesterday!

I was out early to hit the far east of the island for first proper light and do another North Loch loop. Flushed a few Redwings from the roadside on the way over, and while I'd perhaps expected a few more after this good start the final tally for the whole day of 34+ was respectable enough, likewise the 8 Song Thrushes.

A Brambling heard overhead as I got out of the car was an encouraging start, and although there weren't masses of migrants, there was plenty to keep occupied with.

Did the loop clockwise again, picking up a Lesser Whitethroat at Strandblikk. Then at Tofts, for a change, I checked out the dykes to the north, cutting back to the road at Gleat. The detour got me the trip's first Whinchat, an especially nervous individual, and the day's only Wheatear. Then once at Gleat a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew by, my third sighting in four days, although probably this was the first one having moved north a little.

Wildfowl numbers on North Loch were well down on Thursday, but included 6 Whooper Swans.

Once back at the car I headed down to Neuks to give a seawatch a go, but SW is clearly not a helpful wind. Not much was moving, and that which was was distant, but it did include 4 Sooty Shearwaters . It seems criminal to call a 20-minute seawatch with four Sooties quiet!

On the way back to have lunch at the hostel I gave the Cleat road a try. The wetland along here had quite a few birds on it, including a wader which through bins had vague Pec potential (but if I'm honest was almost certainly just a Dunlin). But I'll never know, because I was part way through erecting my tripod when a cracking Hen Harrier went through, flushing 75% of what was there.

Two minutes later a Raven saw most of the rest off.

These four were later

And then immediately after that a Peregrine came through and tried (but failed) to catch the solitary Redshank that remained!

Finally back at the hostel, I'd just put the kettle on and buttered some bread when an all-too-familiar call through the kitchen window had me dashing outside to see the 3rd Yellow-browed Warbler of the trip. A very skittish individual, a devil to photograph, but the first of the three to call.

After lunch I drove between a few sites, giving each half hour to an hour or so, to fill the rest of the day. There's always something to see here, and it's nice to alternate between long walks and popping in to interesting places.

A ringtail Hen Harrier over Broughtown was nice, with a Kestrel  there too.

Spent a fair while in the Little Sea area, including checking roosting gulls for the Med that was here last week. No luck, but 10 Sandwich Terns  was an excellent count for October.

A few waders present too, including quite a few Bar-tailed Godwits

And a handful of Knot

Also still at least 26 Swallows in the area, out of a pretty good tally for the day of 36.

Gardens in the area held the day's, and trip's, second Brambling and a Goldcrest .

And with the light fading there was one last bit of excitement, when as I got to Kettletoft to pick up my fish supper a single Barnacle Goose flew over to take the trip total up to 97, and the day list to a very respectable 72.

Wet and Wild

 Well, the forecast said wet and windy, and boy was it wet and windy! For a period around midday the wind was gusting around 70mph, and being outside was not for consideration!

But, just as forecast, around 4pm the wind dropped (to a much more manageable F5-6) and the rain stopped (bar one sharp shower) and I was straight out into the field. 

A Great Northern Diver in the bay outside the hostel was nice.

But it was gardens I was most interested in, so I headed out towards Broughton and Burness. The first garden I checked held a Redwing which was promising, and over the next 2½ hours or so I saw at least 17 of them, plus a couple of Song Thrushes. 

Also at the first stop a Merlin dashed through, and soon after 2 Kestrels circled overhead together, with another seen hovering later at Scar.

The garden at Thornwald had my second Great Spotted Woodpecker of the trip too.

Stopped in Thorness to scan a field of waders, but they spooked and I only got flight views of a bonus Greenshank .

Up at Burness my first stop was at Woodhouse, an unoccupied house with an amazing garden that ought to hold masses. Last year I visited it loads and saw not a single migrant. Today was very different, as half an hour doing laps of its various corners produced a Yellow-browed Warbler , a Siberian Chiffchaff , a Lesser Whitethroat  and a rather dark-legged Willow Warbler , but only the latter posed for a photo.

I checked out a few more gardens out to Upper Breckan without further reward, although on the way back a male Sparrowhawk completed a rather unexpectedly good raptor afternoon.

Popped to Sinclair Stores for some provisions and while in that area, a nice count of 55 Hooded Crows flew over to roost somewhere near Bea Loch, and a Wheatear was flushed from the road.

Back at the hostel, with it almost dark, a Grey Heron on the adjacent beach rounded off a surprisingly high day list of 46 species.

There had clearly been a decent arrival of birds last night, and it was a shame the weather was too bad to properly get amongst it, but with tomorrow forecast sunny and dry (if quite windy) I'm hoping that it's windy enough tonight to deter too much from leaving overnight.

And maybe something has come in from the west too!

Before The Storm

 Day two, and an excellent one too. Virtually no wind, and whilst it was cloudy all day too it's mostly been pretty pleasant. Unfortunately it's not going to last, with rain forecast more or less all day tomorrow, with gales gusting to F12 at times!

Which made it all the more important to make the most of today.

Headed straight out east, and the Salties garden soon delivered. A Common Whitethroat skulked deep in bushes, but a Lesser Whitethroat in the same area was slightly more obliging.

Not much of a photo admittedly, but it took ages for the light to brighten this morning and this pic was taken with 1/10 second shutter speed, it was that gloomy.

Two Robins and a Goldcrest were also in the garden here.

I moved on to The Gallery, via the back of Loch Rummie, which held 20 Coot, 4 Little Grebes and 3 Moorhens.

The Gallery held Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and another 2 Robins, and a Snow Bunting was heard overhead.

 Most Robins here are pretty skulking, and this is a fairly typical view.

So I really have no idea what this one was playing at!

From The Gallery I headed over towards Sandquoy in the hope of relocating yesterday's Rosy Starling, but the Starling numbers there were well down on yesterday. Presumably it's still about (there are probably well into five figures of Starling on the island), just feeding in a different place.

A Song Thrush was a trip list addition just before there, and 2 Wheatears (3 in total today) were on the beach soon after.

Singles of Red-throated and Great Northern Divers (of respective totals of 3 and 8 today) were in the bay, but I couldn't find yesterday's Arctic Redpoll.

A single Purple Sandpiper was on rocks at Tofts.

Purple Sand to the left of a nice Shag and Cormorant comparison

I scanned North Loch from the north end, with plenty of wildfowl present. 450 Wigeon was an excellent number, and among the 40 Tufted Duck I found a single Scaup.

Also present were 8 Whooper Swans

Two more Snow Buntings flew over, and a Peregrine, probably a male, came in and landed on a telegraph pole for a while.

From here I decided to cut across the fields to the beach on the east coast, and this proved to be a good move.

There were plenty of waders on the shore, lots of seals just offshore, a Lapland Bunting flew north, and there were Otter prints in the sand

Also nice to get good close views of a Snow Bunting on the deck.

Then, just as I reached the point where I was to head back inland I flushed a bird with an instantly recognisable rufous tail base. Thankfully it perched up sort of in the open and I got some nice views (and, more surprisingly, some acceptable photos) of a lovely Bluethroat, before it dived into the thickest marram grass and I let it be.

Back at The Gallery, an overflying Goldfinch (quite a scarcity up here)

and then a couple of Common Redpoll convinced me to abandon my plan of spending the afternoon at Burness in the NW. 

Instead I headed down towards Start Point, in the hope that other stuff had arrived. It hadn't (although if the tide had been right for me to cross to Start who knows what I may have found?), but once at Neuks I decided I may as well give the sea a quick look. This quick look ended up being two hours thanks to a steady stream of birds. As always it was mostly Kittiwakes (516N), Gannets (152N, 71S), Fulmars (173N, 4S) and auks. But an excellent back up including 46 Sooty Shearwaters, 10 Manx Shearwaters, a flock of 4 Great Northern Divers and 3 Great Skuas. An adult Arctic Tern was the only decent bird close enough for a sensible pic.

I thought for a while that the highlight was going to be the pale phase adult Pomarine Skua that powered through low to the sea, but then an hour and a half in I picked up the distinctive shape and jizz of a "large shearwater" heading north, and over the next minute or so was able to see it well enough to identify as what (I am ashamed to say) was my first ever Great Shearwater!! Good numbers were seen off Orkney last week and I was afraid I'd missed the boat, so to say I was pleased would be an understatement!!

And so I headed off back west, stopping off to jam into a Yellow-browed Warbler in the surgery garden (another skulker that didn't want its photo taken).

Given the forecast, I wonder whether I'll see any more this trip. 

Slowly made my way back "home", including stopping for an excellent flock of 115 Swallows near Little Isegarth (with a Kestrel there too).

All in all an excellent day, maybe not the rarities they have on the smaller islands, but a superb selection, and the kind of all-round birding that makes Sanday a real pleasure to visit!

And a day list of 78 species proves the point.