A lovely day with much
lighter SE winds and a real spring-like feeling in the air; I walked round the
coast from the Obs to Brides and while there wasn’t too much to mention there
was a trickle of Skylarks heading south, an influx of 12+ Black-headed Gulls
and a ringtail Hen Harrier which came in off the sea from the south. Other birds included the Black Redstart
still at Howar, 40+ Redwings, 30+ Fieldfares, 59 Snow Buntings, a single
Pink-footed Goose with Greylags, 17 Long-tailed Ducks and 9 Great-northern
Divers.
It all kicked off late afternoon though as after a
phonecall I sprinted down to the pier where eventually I had brilliant but
brief views of an incredible WALRUS that was slowly swimming round the south
end of the island close inshore!! It
hugged the coast, went around the pier and headed into Nouster but very quickly
disappeared into thin air, I saw it surface three times with the last time
being the best views as it raised its head out of the water enough for me to
get some pictures!! An awesome beast!!
I then went up and took over at the nets at Holland
as other folks chased the Walrus around (unsuccessfully) and managed a few bits,
with the highlight being the Stock Dove that had been seen earlier
in the day caught in the middle Fuchsia net as it came into roost (only the
second to be ringed on the island!) as well as a male Chaffinch (the first of
the spring), a Fieldfare and a handful of Redwings – including one dark bird
with a wing of 130 which could have been a coburni
bird.
WALRUS!!!
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