Better than nothing.

A slight improvement on previous days, but still pretty crap for mid-May. 3 Siskins spent the day in the garden and another was further along the road, a Common Sandpiper and 5 Whimbrel were on the Loch, 9 Knot and 12 Sanderling were on Moast Beach, elsewhere around Scatness there were 7 Swallows, 6 Carrion Crows, 2 Blackcap and a Chiffchaff - better than nothing at all I suppose.

Siskins.

Oystercatcher.

Subway to Venus.

A slight improvement with a few new birds around the patch, 2 Linnets holding territory at the end of the Scatness road, a Lesser Whitethroat in the Sub-alp garden, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers in West Voe along with a couple of Red-throated Divers feeding close in to the beach, 2 House Martins along the cliffs and 2 Chiffchaffs and a male Blackcap in the garden.
The best sight was saved until it got dark, with the new moon over Fitful Head with Venus along side.


Common Terns.

Kittiwake.

Red-throated Diver.

Linnet.

Moon and Venus.

The Wait.

The wait continues, the only half decent things at Scatness today were 10 Swallows, a female Blackcap, a Short-eared Owl in off the sea and a Peregrine over Quendale Bay.

Short-eared Owl.

Blackcap.

Movement.

Definitely some bird movement today, though not all of it made much sense, a Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff in the garden were kind of expected, as was 4 Swallows over the Loch and a Whitethroat along the stone walls. Some strange movements took place in the late afternoon with 5 male Common Scoter flying south, then 3 Collared Doves appeared in the garden and finally 8 Carrion Crows set down in front of the house joining the single bird that has been around for a few days. More normal stuff included 35 Sanderlings and 5 Knot on Moast Beach.
A Brindled Ochre in the moth trap last night is my only May record of that species.

Knot.

Purple Sandpipers.

Brindled Ochre.

Hit The North.

A change in the wind direction to a southerly seems to have helped things on a little bit, even if it's just by increasing the numbers of north-bound waders, it's still better than seeing nothing at all. The Sanderling on Moast Beach increased to 15 along with about 40 summer plumaged Purple Sandpipers and 18 Knot. The only other migrant was a Willow Warbler in the garden.

Sanderling.

Knot.

Purple Sandpiper.

Wheatear.

Ringed Plover.

Up The Beach.

Another attempt to try and boost the patch year-list with a 3 hour stomp around Scatness in between snow showers and, quite surprisingly, it worked, with 4 Sanderlings on Moast Beach and a Tree Pipit in a nearby garden. A few migrants seem to be braving the conditions - a Chiffchaff in West Voe car park, a Swallow along the cliffs, 5 White Wagtails at various places, a couple of Whimbrel and a Carrion Crow. The male Blackcap remains in the garden, I think, mainly thanks to the Missus putting out sliced tomatoes, which it can't get enough of.


Sanderling.

Whimbrel.

A Small Victory.

A small victory in reaching the 100 mark with a Common Sandpiper, still pretty crap at Scatness though with northerly winds and now snow showers ! The only other things of note were 2 Sand Martins and a male Blackcap.

For whom the bell tolls.

Pipped to the post by 'the Bell', who managed to get the 100th bird on his Sumburgh patch Year-list, with a Grasshopper Warbler at Grutness. Being stuck on 99, I thought it wise to give Scatness a good going over - it was crap !! The only sign that any new birds were in at all was a Blackcap on the cliffs and 2 Carrion Crows in front of the house - so I'm still stuck on 99.
On a positive note at least one pair of Lapwings have now got chicks, and there are now a few Harbour Porpoise in the bay in front of the house, viewable from the living room window.


Blackcap.

Lapwing chicklet.

Harbour Porpoise.

Zoom zoom zoom.

Some zoomed up images, taken with a micro-camera, of some bits and pieces found in the garden.

White-shouldered House Moth.

Primula.

Stinging Nettle.

Daffodil stigma.

Slav.

The wind eventually went easterly this morning, so had another crack at looking for some migrants on the patch. It started off fairly well with Wood Pigeon year-ticked in one of the sheep fields, 4 Red-breasted Mergansers in West Voe were also year-ticks, but the best was a summer plumaged Slavonian Grebe, in amongst the Long-tailed Ducks in West Voe. Elsewhere around Scatness there were singles of Swallow and House Martin, the Canada Goose is still around and seems to be paired with a Greylag on Little Holm, 5 Dunlin on Moast Beach are maybe the start of some kind of wader passage. Checking the beaches late afternoon, it seems the easterly is now having some effect as there were 18 White Wagtails on Moast Beach and about 60 Wheatears spread about all over Scatness.

Slavonian Grebe & Long-tailed Ducks.

Mr Shorty.

More northerly winds - moth trap empty, Scatness empty, enthusiasm running on empty !
3 hours on the patch in the afternoon and all that could be wrung out of the Scatness void was the Canada Goose, 2 Swallows and 21 Arctic Terns, however, in an inspired moment of madness, nipped out after tea time for about 20 minutes and turned up a Short-eared Owl near West Voe car park.

Short-eared Owl.

Ringed Plover.