SWEDEN - 13th November

 Same yet again although the sun broke through for about an hour late morning, the nets were quiet with just a handful of Common Redpolls but there was plenty of other stuff to see.   

The highlight was finding a drake Green-winged Teal feeding just below the house, it hadn’t finished its moult yet (especially the flanks) so the pattern was indistinct so it was a case of grilling it to make sure the less-than-complete vertical white stripes were even on both sides and they were!   

Other birds included a redhead Smew flying high over the house, a Woodcock flushed from just outside the house, 14 Whooper Swans (including a new family party which flew in from the north), 14 Pintail and a Grey Wagtail.   

The point was quiet at lunchtime before a look at the mouth of the bay from Sillhallsvik produced the usual wildfowl including a female Scaup, 16 Shoveler and 15 Whooper Swans while a Bullfinch was new for me there, 3 White-tailed Eagles were feeding on something and a big female Sparrowhawk flew across the water from the north.

Green-winged Teal

Sparrowhawk

NORTH RONALDSAY - 21st January

Arrived back on North Ronaldsay on the middle flight  where it was bright and dry with a brisk, cold SW wind; the highlights of a few hours round the south of the island included the drake Green-winged Teal on Gretchen where there were also 2 Shelduck, 7 Shoveler, and 3 Pintail, an adult Eurasian White-fronted Goose and 2 Pink-footed Geese with the Greylags and 2 Hen Harriers floating around while over-wintering Passerines lingering from last year included c88 Twite, 3 Common Redpolls, 5 Chaffinches, 9 Skylark, a Meadow Pipit, 2 Fieldfare, a Redwing and 42 Snow Buntings.  

                Other birds included 5 Red-throated Divers, 3 Great-northern Divers, 5 Long-tailed Ducks, 239 Golden Plover, c25 Dunlin, 47+ Curlew and 52+ Redshank.   A little drive up the island as it was getting dark then produced 2 Whooper Swans, another Shelduck and Pink-footed Goose, 4 Gadwall and another 20 Snow Buntings at Bewan.

Green-winged Teal

White-fronted Goose

20th January

Drove up from the Highlands to Orkney with a few stops on the way; highlights included the long-staying drake American Wigeon at Tain where there was also a drake Green-winged Teal and a few small flocks of Crossbills which flew north up the coast and a 2cy Iceland Gull on the river in Wick with other Gulls.

American Wigeon

Green-winged Teal

Iceland Gull

SPURN - 11th January

A few hours round Spurn in the middle of the day after returning from a long and tiring few days in Amsterdam produced a drake Green-winged Teal on Holderness Field, a Short-eared Owl and the Greenshank on Beacon Ponds along with 4 Goldeneye, the 7 Whooper Swans in the fields and just 2 Black-tailed Godwits on the Humber.

Green-winged Teal

Goldeneye

NORTH RONALDSAY - 10th November

A much better day with far lighter SSE winds and the sun coming out in the afternoon; walked round the north and south ends of the island and managed to open some nets at Holland in the evening, there was a good selection of birds but nothing really new; totals included 7 Red-throated Divers, a Great-northern Diver, 4 Herons, a Whooper Swan, the 5 Pink-footed Geese and the Barnacle Goose with 822 Greylags, 14 Gadwall, the Green-winged Teal on Gretchen, 8 Pintail, a drake Goldeneye at Brides, 2 Hen Harriers, single Sparrowhawk and Kestrel, a Jack Snipe, 5 Woodcock, 2 Black-headed Gulls, 285 Herring Gulls (big flock at the top end again), 6 Skylark, 2 Robins, 86 Blackbird, 187 Fieldfare, 4 Song Thrush, 223 Redwing, a lingering Chiffchaff in Holland where there was also a Goldcrest, 8 Chaffinch, a Brambling, 30 Twite, 2 Common Redpoll and 21 Snow Buntings.

Green-winged Teal

Kestrel

NORTH RONALDSAY - 26th October

A change in the wind as it became a strong, very cold northerly which cut right through you bringing frequent and nasty hail / rain showers through the day but it was bright and sunny in between; a seawatch first thing was disappointingly quiet with just a Blue Fulmar of note but there was a Little Grebe on Bewan and the Yellow Wagtail was still at Trolla.   Birds in the Obs census route then included 2 Common Redpolls at Holland, 20 Brambling, 10 Chaffinch and 12 Twite still in Funny Park, a Kestrel, the Green-winged Teal, a Black-headed Gull, 4 Robins, a Fieldfare, 30 Redwing and c400 Golden Plover.

Green-winged Teal

Common Redpoll

Twite

NORTH RONALDSAY - 20th October

A bit breezier but still OK really with a decent selection of birds around the Obs census route with the highlights being a Yellow Wagtail north over the Obs (a flava ssp. really but it just sounded like a normal Yellow Wagtail) and the returning drake Green-winged Teal on Gretchen – its probably been present for a few weeks but is only just moulting into its male plumage allowing us to tell what it is!   Other birds included a female Sparrowhawk in Holland, a Merlin, a Kestrel, 6 Pink-footed Geese, 450+ Golden Plover, 22 Chaffinches, 24 Brambling, 12 Twite and the lingering Willow Warbler round the Obs but generally fewer Thrushes, Robins etc. around.    The four Yellowhammers were still in Kirbest.

                A little seawatch in the afternoon was then quiet with just a Bonxie and 9 Puffins in amongst 105 Auk sp. of note.

Green-winged Teal

Purple Sandpiper

Yellowhammer

Kittiwake

NORTH RONALDSAY - 27th February

The predicted freezing weather started to take hold through the day with light snow showers throughout and a bitingly cold easterly wind; an hour’s seawatch first thing just produced 3 Great-northern Divers, 5 Red-throated Divers and 216 Auk sp. while the drake Smew was again on Bewan along with 10 Goldeneye.   The Green-winged Teal was again on Gretchen.

Green-winged Teal

NORTH RONALDSAY - 12th April

Still a blazing NW wind with regular showers so there were few birds of note in the Obs census route with the drake Green-winged Teal showing well on Gretchen, 4 Sandwich Terns, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 12 Redwings at Holland.

                The Northern Harrier did a very close flyby in front of the Landrover at Brides when we were waiting to start the sheep punding.

Green-winged Teal

Greylag Geese

NORTH RONALDSAY - 10th March

A dramatic change in the weather produced a flat calm, cloudy morning so we were up at Holland with the nets first thing where we caught 2 more Snipe, a Woodpigeon, a Blackbird and a couple of Wrens.

                I then walked the west coast census route where the highlights were the drake Green-winged Teal which reappeared on Gretchen to display to some Teal – absent since 24^th February (presumably the same bird!), the Northern Harrier which did a couple of distant fly-bys and the big, pale 2^nd winter Glaucous Gull.   Other birds included a Snow Bunting on Torness, 6 Red-throated Divers, a Fieldfare, a Pied Wagtail, 65+ Skylarks in the stubble field at Nether Linney and a female Stonechat by Trebb.

                There was a Stock Dove at the bottom of the Obs track in the afternoon – a very scarce, not annual vagrant on here!

Glaucous Gull

Green-winged Teal record shot

Stonechat