dafi
Well-known member
First visit this year Hunda
Last night was the first outing of my summer birding class with Tim Dean. tonights destination was the island of Hunda this is located west of Burray and conected to it by a causeway that gives acess at all states of the tide. the island its self is half grazing half heather moor you can walk around the entire island but just the heathery half is for us tonight.
We meet up in the farm yard of of Littlequoy on whos ground this walk is over tonight There are ten of us tonight and its a mix of old faces and new all eager for the off so after intros all round we head out the farm yard the way we came in to spy out the rough ground between us and the shore. At the back of us sing Skylarks and Mippits with a Linnet hanging out some where there as well. South to the shore and St Margrets hope over the water. Lapwings display over a Common Gull colony that looks like its starting to establish. Graylag geese have growing goslings out in the open and around them are paired up Oystercatchers and Lapwings. On the small wet pools Mallard move about feeding. overhead a Bonixie passes and soon another. Greater Black Backs pass over as well. Looming figures of menace inviting aggressive atacks from the nesting throng.The distant sea throws up the first duck of the night a Great Northen Diver in summer plumage.and a few Eider beond. So with that its off through the farm to the track for Hunda. Please if your visiting park sensiblly and look out as its a working farm. Dont take your dogs to the island as theres loads of lambs at the moment not to mention a million ground nesting birds and do visit the shop.while your here.
Down the track theres a year round wet hole that gives us Rinnged Plover Redshank and Piedwagtail. Beond this over the field a Shorteared Owl quarters the ground then the fence lines pouncing twice before attracting to mutch attention and moving off harrased .This one a paler male will be seen more now during the day light hours as thay have hungry young to feed. the shore side has a raft of long tailed ducks in the distance some eider dotted here and there.
A few Red Breasted Mergansers mostly females. More Skuas pass over head these are heading for Hoy probaly to roost at the colony. the foreshore is a little bereft of birds two Ringed Plover dont stay long following the Redshanks pinging calls. A few Turnstones in the weed and a trilling Dunlin is out there some where. Off the shore of Hunda a low slung diver turns out to be a Red Throat.
We head over the causeway to the island getting better views of the rocky shore. With the sun behind us now helping locating the dunlin in there summer finery. As we are looking up Hunda sound behind us are the approaching sounds of Artic Terns fantastic stuff these birds might have been in South Africa or even Australia and have found there way back here to breed. Last year there was a good wee Tern colony on Hunda but its early to tell if thay will return to this exact spot. Thay will nest in the locality but can be fickle. Still its good to see them in numbers to night. looking south toward the Cairn Head numorus seals are strewen across the rocks and as we scan them over a Whimbrel is heard calling there is a pair of some thing on a patch of sand but it is tantlisingly to far away to tell if its a Curlew or Wimbrill Oh well onward
Turning left ofF the causeway we move along the shore line toward the fish farm. The heather moor at our back is dominated by the Black Backed Gulls that sit on the highest points of the low lying ground. thay will nest here in a small group, two Skuas sit together in the heather two pairs usualy nest over here. The shore of Hunda Sound now produced a bizare spectical with twenty four eider males vieing for the attention of one unattached female. This female may just have lost a clutch of eggs or mayby late coming in to her fertile cycle .but as comic as it looks it can be a serious situation for the lassie as the poor girl can get exausted and drowned fending off unwranted suitors. Out in the bay the raft of long tails is 100 to 150 strong and there must be fifty plus mostly immature eiders we are finding them sat on nests as we carefully move along the shore. About this point we see the best bird of the night a Black Throated Diver in full summer plumage. this stunner is a good way off but looks good in the scopes .BTD winter here ocsionaly one has been reported at Rerwick. but are not often seen in summer garb the nearest ones to us are south in Northren Scotland thay require larger lochs for breeding than we have here to acomadate there long takeoff style. Tim is delighted as its his first summer bird ever in orkney [ its a rare one] moving around the point of East Ayre we head slightly uphill towards a wet pond .that proves to be empty. Graylag take off in to the distance complaining while more still sit in the heather eyeing us suspiciously. They have more to loose if thay fly so we try not to provoke them we pass. Sunnless Geo to turn and head back along the fence line to take us to the shore and back to the causeway. stopping to rescan the sea before the causeway fifteen Megansers are now counted in diffrent groups we get over the causeway in the failling light to be greeted on the far shore by trilling Dunlin right in front of us giving great views. A nice end for my first summer class and first time back on Hunda.
next tusday its Corncrakes!
Last night was the first outing of my summer birding class with Tim Dean. tonights destination was the island of Hunda this is located west of Burray and conected to it by a causeway that gives acess at all states of the tide. the island its self is half grazing half heather moor you can walk around the entire island but just the heathery half is for us tonight.
We meet up in the farm yard of of Littlequoy on whos ground this walk is over tonight There are ten of us tonight and its a mix of old faces and new all eager for the off so after intros all round we head out the farm yard the way we came in to spy out the rough ground between us and the shore. At the back of us sing Skylarks and Mippits with a Linnet hanging out some where there as well. South to the shore and St Margrets hope over the water. Lapwings display over a Common Gull colony that looks like its starting to establish. Graylag geese have growing goslings out in the open and around them are paired up Oystercatchers and Lapwings. On the small wet pools Mallard move about feeding. overhead a Bonixie passes and soon another. Greater Black Backs pass over as well. Looming figures of menace inviting aggressive atacks from the nesting throng.The distant sea throws up the first duck of the night a Great Northen Diver in summer plumage.and a few Eider beond. So with that its off through the farm to the track for Hunda. Please if your visiting park sensiblly and look out as its a working farm. Dont take your dogs to the island as theres loads of lambs at the moment not to mention a million ground nesting birds and do visit the shop.while your here.
Down the track theres a year round wet hole that gives us Rinnged Plover Redshank and Piedwagtail. Beond this over the field a Shorteared Owl quarters the ground then the fence lines pouncing twice before attracting to mutch attention and moving off harrased .This one a paler male will be seen more now during the day light hours as thay have hungry young to feed. the shore side has a raft of long tailed ducks in the distance some eider dotted here and there.
A few Red Breasted Mergansers mostly females. More Skuas pass over head these are heading for Hoy probaly to roost at the colony. the foreshore is a little bereft of birds two Ringed Plover dont stay long following the Redshanks pinging calls. A few Turnstones in the weed and a trilling Dunlin is out there some where. Off the shore of Hunda a low slung diver turns out to be a Red Throat.
We head over the causeway to the island getting better views of the rocky shore. With the sun behind us now helping locating the dunlin in there summer finery. As we are looking up Hunda sound behind us are the approaching sounds of Artic Terns fantastic stuff these birds might have been in South Africa or even Australia and have found there way back here to breed. Last year there was a good wee Tern colony on Hunda but its early to tell if thay will return to this exact spot. Thay will nest in the locality but can be fickle. Still its good to see them in numbers to night. looking south toward the Cairn Head numorus seals are strewen across the rocks and as we scan them over a Whimbrel is heard calling there is a pair of some thing on a patch of sand but it is tantlisingly to far away to tell if its a Curlew or Wimbrill Oh well onward
Turning left ofF the causeway we move along the shore line toward the fish farm. The heather moor at our back is dominated by the Black Backed Gulls that sit on the highest points of the low lying ground. thay will nest here in a small group, two Skuas sit together in the heather two pairs usualy nest over here. The shore of Hunda Sound now produced a bizare spectical with twenty four eider males vieing for the attention of one unattached female. This female may just have lost a clutch of eggs or mayby late coming in to her fertile cycle .but as comic as it looks it can be a serious situation for the lassie as the poor girl can get exausted and drowned fending off unwranted suitors. Out in the bay the raft of long tails is 100 to 150 strong and there must be fifty plus mostly immature eiders we are finding them sat on nests as we carefully move along the shore. About this point we see the best bird of the night a Black Throated Diver in full summer plumage. this stunner is a good way off but looks good in the scopes .BTD winter here ocsionaly one has been reported at Rerwick. but are not often seen in summer garb the nearest ones to us are south in Northren Scotland thay require larger lochs for breeding than we have here to acomadate there long takeoff style. Tim is delighted as its his first summer bird ever in orkney [ its a rare one] moving around the point of East Ayre we head slightly uphill towards a wet pond .that proves to be empty. Graylag take off in to the distance complaining while more still sit in the heather eyeing us suspiciously. They have more to loose if thay fly so we try not to provoke them we pass. Sunnless Geo to turn and head back along the fence line to take us to the shore and back to the causeway. stopping to rescan the sea before the causeway fifteen Megansers are now counted in diffrent groups we get over the causeway in the failling light to be greeted on the far shore by trilling Dunlin right in front of us giving great views. A nice end for my first summer class and first time back on Hunda.
next tusday its Corncrakes!
