NORTH RONALDSAY - 28th September

Rain arrived overnight and lasted through until lunchtime and we, yet again kept the strong SE wind; there were plenty of new birds in as we had a wild goose-chase for a Yellow-breasted Bunting up the west coast in the morning with the first 2 Siskins of the year and a few Goldcrest, Blackcaps and Thrushes etc.  

                The Brides census route in the afternoon was fairly quiet in the rough weather though (very exposed!) with a Whinchat, 3 Robins, 5 Song Thrushes, 3 Redwings and a Blackcap of note before I opened the nets in Holland for a short while until the weather closed in again and managed to catch a Chiffchaff, a Redstart and a Spotted Flycatcher.

NORTH RONALDSAY - 27th September

The marvellous SE winds continued to blow across the island and it stayed dry again throughout the day; the Obs census route was highlighted by a Marsh Warbler on the inside of the dyke just down from the Obs, near the pier and best of all an Olive-backed Pipit which turned up around the traps in the afternoon and was eventually pushed into T2 to be ringed by me – a great ringing tick!

                Other birds (including a few nets open at Holland in the evening) comprised the first Woodcock of the autumn flushed from the back of Nouster, a Yellow-browed Warbler still in Holland, 2 Blackcaps, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler, 2 Goldcrests, 6 Song Thrushes, 2 Redwings, 2 Chaffinches and a Brambling.

Olive-backed Pipit

NORTH RONALDSAY - 26th September

An awesome day with the moderate SE wind still blazing across the island; I got a few nets open first thing and on the first-round I caught a cracking BLYTH’S REED WARBLER, followed by an ‘Eastern’ Lesser Whitethroat presumably a blythi bird along with a Redstart, 4 Blackcaps, 2 Redwings, a Chaffinch, single Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler and a Swallow.   I was then about to head up to the northern census route but we quickly went over to the northern edge of the airstrip to have fantastic views of a stunning SIBERIAN STONECHAT showing brilliantly on the wall.

                I finally got up to the northern census route where the highlights were a smart Little Bunting in the fields behind Rue and an equally smart Red-breasted Flycatcher at Garso; other birds included single Spotted Flycatcher, Redstart, Whinchat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Robin, 7 Song Thrushes, 6 Redwings and a Kestrel in off the sea at Trolla.    Nets in the evening produced a Blackcap, a Garden Warbler, 2 Song Thrushes, a Chaffinch and a Brambling.

Blyth's Reed Warbler

Siberian Stonechat

Eastern Lesser Whitethroat

Red-breasted Flycatcher

NORTH RONALDSAY - 25th September

Another good-looking day with a strong SE wind and spitting rain through until mid-morning, the middle census route was a bit slow though with a thin scattering of migrants with single Yellow-browed Warbler (Sandar), Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Redwing, Brambling, Chaffinch and Robin along with 2 Kestrels, 155 Wigeon, 7 Gadwall and 7 Herons.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Herons

Redstart

NORTH RONALDSAY - 24th September

A great day with the autumn finally kicking off with a good variety of new birds; it was still a very strong SSE wind with rain at dawn and the occasional few spots through the day, I was for once on the right census route as birds up the west coast included 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, 2 Grey Wagtails, a Grasshopper Warbler which gave me the run around for a good while at Trebb, a Spotted Flycatcher, the first Redwing and 2 Bramblings of the autumn, a Garden Warbler, a Mealy Redpoll, 11 Rock Pipits, 4 Lapland Buntings and my first Snow Bunting of the autumn.   Other birds included a Little Stint and 9 Black-tailed Godwits on Gretchen, a Greenshank which flew south and single Great-northern Diver, Arctic Tern and Bonxie offshore.

                The day’s highlight came late afternoon when we had good if brief views of a very flighty OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT in the Docks and grass around Longar.   I then had a very successful dazzling trip to Gretchen in the evening as I managed to catch 3 Ruff and a Little Stint amongst some other waders.

Mealy Redpoll

Spotted Flycatcher with a Devil's Coach Horse

Black-tailed Godwit

Redwing

NORTH RONALDSAY - 23rd September

A blazing SSE wind made the Hooking census route difficult to say the least but I don’t think there was much else out there anyway; there was a gathering of 130 Great Black-backed Gulls on The Links while other birds included 16 Bar-tailed Godwits, 4 Ruff, a Merlin whizzing past the school, 68 Wigeon and a Bonxie which flew down the beach.

This late Swallow brood was out at Scottigar and showed some interesting colour variation between siblings

Eider

Turnstone

Wigeon

Great Black-backed Gulls

NORTH RONALDSAY - 21st September

Lightish NW winds again with rain on and off throughout, there wasn’t too much to mention in the Obs census area with 31 Ruff in the fields with 650+ Golden Plover, 3 Willow Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Robin at Holland (all already ringed), a Goldcrest at the Obs, 4 Black-tailed Godwits and 16 Teal on Gretchen, 22 Purple Sandpipers and 6 Red-throated Divers offshore.

Purple Sandpiper

Shag

Great Black-backed Gull

Adult Common Gull

1st winter Common Gull

NORTH RONALDSAY - 20th September

The wind finally swung round into the SE but it wasn’t coming from that far away so the northern census route was amazingly quiet again with no grounded passerine migrants; birds seen though included 10 Rock Pipits, 28 Purple Sandpipers, 51 Wigeon, single Arctic Tern and Arctic Skua offshore and 3 Knot.   A bit of a walk round Hooking in the afternoon before rain moved in produced a Wood Sandpiper, 2 Merlins and a Lesser Whitethroat at Scotsha while there was a Goldcrest and a Robin at the Obs giving some slight encouragement.

NORTH RONALDSAY - 19th September

A pleasant day with the light wind still in the NW; the day started well at the nets at Holland with the highlight being a cracking young female Bluethroat with a calling Yellow-browed Warbler, a Common Rosefinch which took off to the north, a Garden Warbler, a Blackcap and 3 Willow Warblers also in the garden.

                The middle census route in the afternoon sunshine was disappointingly quiet with no grounded migrants at all but other birds included single Merlin and Kestrel, a flyover Redpoll sp. 34 Wigeon, 11 Shoveler, 10 Gadwall, 38 Teal and 9 Black-tailed Godwits.

Bluethroat

NORTH RONALDSAY - 17th September

A lovely day with the much lighter northerly breeze eventually swinging round to the NE as promised; the nets at Holland first thing produced an adult Marsh Warbler (an extremely fat bird with a score of 7 and which weighed 19.4g!!), yesterday’s Barred Warbler again, 3 Willow Warblers and a Peregrine overhead chasing Golden Plovers.

                I caught my first Yellow-browed Warbler of the year at the Obs before heading out to the Hooking census route which was pretty quiet with just a Mealy Redpoll, a Lapland Bunting, a Willow Warbler and a Goldcrest in the gardens, a Grey Plover, 30 Black-tailed Godwits and 16 Bar-tailed Godwits on The Links and 75 Teal, 17 Shoveler, 11 Gadwall and 12 Tufted Ducks on the loch.

Marsh Warbler

Barred Warbler

Yellow-browed Warbler

Pied Wagtail

NORTH RONALDSAY - 16th September

The NW wind remained but there were very few showers and plenty of sunshine with a few new birds around; I caught a Barred Warbler in T1 in the morning where there was also a Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Lapland Buntings overhead.   The Bridesness census route was then fairly quiet with single Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff the only migrants along with a Grey Plover, 5 Herons and a Rock Pipit.

                Opened the nets at Holland in the evening where I caught another Barred Warbler, 2 Blackcaps and 3 Willow Warblers while a House Martin was flying round with the Swallows.

Sanderling

Turnstone

Bar-tailed Godwit

NORTH RONALDSAY - 15th September

A very similar day with a strong NW wind and regular showers so again, it was tough in the field with hardly anything to mention around the Obs census route with 6 Rock Pipits and 10 Purple Sandpipers around the sheltered coast at The Lurn and 2 Red-throated Divers in Nouster.

Colour ringed Shag off The Lurn

Curlew

Ringed Plover