NORTH RONALDSAY - 26th March

Misty and murky first thing but with very light winds, I opened the nets at Holland first thing and almost immediately caught 2 Long-eared Owls – a male and female, very distinctive from each other but didn’t catch anything else at all!   A Woodcock flushed out of the garden but didn’t get caught.

                I then walked round the Bridesness census route as the weather slowly cleared; there was nothing really new but good numbers of birds were around including 34 Snow Buntings (a flock of 32 which flew towards The Links and two on the beach at Brides), 25+ Meadow Pipits, a good 18 Great-northern Divers counted on flat seas along with 15 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Pintail and 4 Gadwall along with big numbers of birds feeding on a hatch of flies and mounds of seaweed on Brides Beach including 14+ Pied Wagtails, 12+ Rock Pipits, 800+ Starlings, 60 Purple Sandpipers and 120 Turnstone.

                Also of note was an interesting duck on the sea feeding with Wigeon which was probably a drake hybrid Wigeon x American Wigeon.

                There were new birds in the afternoon with the first Sparrowhawk of the spring which flew past the Obs and the first Goldcrest of the spring which I caught at Holland along with a female Chaffinch and a Woodpigeon while 2 Rooks flew over.

Female (top) and male (bottom) Long-eared Owl

Snow Buntings

Hybrid Wigeon x American Wigeon