NORTH RONALDSAY - 27th July

Fine again, with acres of bright sunshine but a brisk SE wind with a chilly edge to it made the day just slightly short of perfect; a handful of new birds were seen including the first Black Redstart of the autumn hopping around the Tystie colony at Moe Geo, 3 Ruff on Gretchen (with the first two juveniles) and 2 Garganey also on Gretchen.   Other bits of note comprised 9 Shoveler, a Whimbrel, the Greenshank still, 320+ Common Gulls and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls including the first juvenile.   The main migration event though was a big influx of 150+ Painted Ladies (although the real total would have been much higher) – the vast majority of which were very bright, fresh individuals (very different to the very worn butterflies that we had earlier in the summer), so they hadn’t come from too far away.

Garganey and Shoveler

Juvenile Black-headed Gull

Two juvenile (above) and an adult (below) Ruff

Black-tailed Godwit

Painted Lady