NORTH RONALDSAY - 29th March

A bright and breezy start with a spell of drizzly, damp, murk late morning becoming dry again with the wind slightly dropping; a walk round the Hooking census route in the morning produced my first Wheatear of the year on the South Links (first one was yesterday), 5 Great-northern Divers, 2 Barnacle Geese, 7 Gadwall, a young female Peregrine, a Jack Snipe around Hooking (surprisingly the first of the year), a Black-tailed Godwit, 19 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 30 Meadow Pipits, 14 Pied Wagtails, 6 Twite and 3 Snow Buntings.

                There were a couple more year ticks in the afternoon with a Goldfinch over the Obs (only the third March record) and a Bonxie beating up Great Black-backs off the north end.

Wheatear

Long-tailed Ducks