Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
Another Autumn, another trip to Sanday for the Ladyboys.
Usually, the beginnings of these trips are full of anticipation – hopes of eastern rarities and scarcities fill our conversations, and in some years, they are justified. However, this year we knew the hoped for easterlies were not going to arrive, and as such, we knew that the week might feel like a bit of a slog. But Sanday always delivers – and this is what makes it such an attractive option for our Autumn birding week. We’ve had good American stuff there in the past (Swainson’s thrush, laughing gull) and the general birding is terrific, regardless of whether there are incoming migrants. With these positives in mind, we gave the week our best shot, and considering how poor an autumn the rest of the east coast was having, I think we didn’t do too badly at all.
Saturday September 29th
The first part of any island trip report should be the crossing – but as per usual, there was little of note between Kirkwall and the Sanday terminal at Loth. Great northern divers and tysties were around, and flocks of greylag and wigeon passed between islands en route. After arriving onto Sanday mid morning and quickly dumping all of our food and beer at the house, we headed out. I ventured down to a complex of marshy pools and lagoons at Cleat. It’s a really tasty looking spot that’s delivered in the past, but I couldn’t manage to pick anything out among the wigeon, teal, snipe and redshanks that were there. The gardens, having previously held nuggets such as Swainson’s thrush, were also ominously empty. In the wind and the rain, lunchtime couldn’t come soon enough!
Fully fed, three of us headed out to the east end of the island – one of the birdiest places I’ve had the pleasure to visit. North Loch had the first of the Autumn’s whooper swans among big flocks of wigeon, pintail and tufted duck. Flocks of golden plovers fed in the fields and with the westerlies in mind, we gave them a good grilling, turning up smaller groups of black-tailed godwit and small numbers of ruff. Snipe sneezed overhead, and the odd short-eared owl and hen harrier showed itself. Still – conditions were tough so we made our way towards the hut at Neuks, where it’s possible to get shelter and seawatch at the same time. This was to prove to be a decent move. Birds pass much closer in here than I’m used to at Girdle ness, and we had great views of 8 sooty shearwater, a Manx shearwater, and small numbers of skuas including a brilliant spoon tailed adult pomarine.
As the day began to draw in, we went for a final look through the goldie flocks around North loch and finally struck gold (or silver?) with a fine adult American golden plover, amongst goldies just ten yards from the road. A faff ensued, as we tried to access cameras that were tucked away in bags to protect them from the rain, and of course, by the time we were sorted, the bird had moved away and into ragwort. Still – a great way to end the day. When Sanday gets an American golden plover, it tends to get other American waders too, so in spite of it being cold, wet, and migrant free, we had plenty to be optimistic about.
Usually, the beginnings of these trips are full of anticipation – hopes of eastern rarities and scarcities fill our conversations, and in some years, they are justified. However, this year we knew the hoped for easterlies were not going to arrive, and as such, we knew that the week might feel like a bit of a slog. But Sanday always delivers – and this is what makes it such an attractive option for our Autumn birding week. We’ve had good American stuff there in the past (Swainson’s thrush, laughing gull) and the general birding is terrific, regardless of whether there are incoming migrants. With these positives in mind, we gave the week our best shot, and considering how poor an autumn the rest of the east coast was having, I think we didn’t do too badly at all.
Saturday September 29th
The first part of any island trip report should be the crossing – but as per usual, there was little of note between Kirkwall and the Sanday terminal at Loth. Great northern divers and tysties were around, and flocks of greylag and wigeon passed between islands en route. After arriving onto Sanday mid morning and quickly dumping all of our food and beer at the house, we headed out. I ventured down to a complex of marshy pools and lagoons at Cleat. It’s a really tasty looking spot that’s delivered in the past, but I couldn’t manage to pick anything out among the wigeon, teal, snipe and redshanks that were there. The gardens, having previously held nuggets such as Swainson’s thrush, were also ominously empty. In the wind and the rain, lunchtime couldn’t come soon enough!
Fully fed, three of us headed out to the east end of the island – one of the birdiest places I’ve had the pleasure to visit. North Loch had the first of the Autumn’s whooper swans among big flocks of wigeon, pintail and tufted duck. Flocks of golden plovers fed in the fields and with the westerlies in mind, we gave them a good grilling, turning up smaller groups of black-tailed godwit and small numbers of ruff. Snipe sneezed overhead, and the odd short-eared owl and hen harrier showed itself. Still – conditions were tough so we made our way towards the hut at Neuks, where it’s possible to get shelter and seawatch at the same time. This was to prove to be a decent move. Birds pass much closer in here than I’m used to at Girdle ness, and we had great views of 8 sooty shearwater, a Manx shearwater, and small numbers of skuas including a brilliant spoon tailed adult pomarine.
As the day began to draw in, we went for a final look through the goldie flocks around North loch and finally struck gold (or silver?) with a fine adult American golden plover, amongst goldies just ten yards from the road. A faff ensued, as we tried to access cameras that were tucked away in bags to protect them from the rain, and of course, by the time we were sorted, the bird had moved away and into ragwort. Still – a great way to end the day. When Sanday gets an American golden plover, it tends to get other American waders too, so in spite of it being cold, wet, and migrant free, we had plenty to be optimistic about.