Just back from a long weekend on Orkney, the Island of Sanday to be precise. Sanday is the next island down from North Ronaldsay, and hopes were high for some quality bird finding. However, the dominant weather system was from the North West, and the tail end of an Atlantic hurricane! With that in mind, the chances of Yellow Browed Warblers, Barred Warblers etc. were much diminished (in fact I only managed 2 Redwings and a single Goldcrest as evidence of Scandinavian influx!), and instead the migrants on offer were Whooper Swans, Barnacle Goose, Snow Bunting, Greenland Wheatear, and best of all a Pectoral Sandpiper found on my last full day on the island.
Despite the truely dire weather, views of most birds were excellent, and I renewed acquaintance with many typical scottish species which I hadn't seen for a few years including Black Guillemot, Twite, Hooded Crow.
Was very impressed with the sheer volume of birds on the island.. Greylag Goose and Golden Plover must have been well in excess of 1000, closely followed by Starling, Snipe, and Wigeon.
Spent a lot of time seawatching but to little avail. A lot of seabirds were passing close by, but I was unable to improve on Red Throated Diver, Fulmar, Gannets, Great Skua, Eider, Kittiwake and Shag. did see a few Black Guillemots on the ferry returning to Kirkwall.
Only one bird was foolish enough to come close enough for a photo... Damn that barbed wire!
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