Friday 20 July 2018

10th and 11th July


Due to the increasing fog I took the boat off the island a day earlier than I was supposed to for my trip down south; despite the visibility changing from poor to very poor it was a productive trip on flat calm seas, the highlight was a subadult Pomarine Skua seen briefly flying past the boat while other birds included a single Sooty Shearwater sat on the sea with a group of Auks, a single Manx Shearwater, loads of Auks with many of the Guillemots having small chicks in tow and 5 Porpoises (very scarce this year).

                The following morning, I walked from Kirkwall for a few hours NE along the Bay of Weyland where the highlights were brilliant views of a Short-eared Owl along the coast and an amazing flock of 510 Curlews feeding in fields at the back of Kirkwall (the biggest flock I’ve seen for ages!) along with a Red-throated Diver, a Sparrowhawk and a dead Stoat.




Guillemots with chicks






Short-eared Owl

Stoat - an individual trying its best to help out the eradication programme a bit early!


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