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Goldie flocks and the three (?) rares…Sanday Oct 18 (1 Viewer)

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.
 
Sunday September 30th

Another cold wet and windy day, and another trip out to the east end. A seawatch from Neuks first thing was quickly aborted – there was nothing passing at all apart from the odd gannet and guillemot. So, I walked up from Nueks, optimistically taking in some of the likely looking migrant spots that we’ve christened to reflect their potential (the magic hedge, the mega ditch…) and onto the loop around north loch. Not a migrant in sight, and it wasn’t until I got up to the stubble fields that I began to see more interesting stuff, coming across a group of black-tailed godwits, with 2 ruff hanging on. Normally we would walk these stubble fields but with cows and big, burly looking bulls in them, we gave them a wide berth! My first port of call was the bunkers at the south end of North Loch. Even on the wettest and windiest day you can shelter here, set up a scope and scan through the abundant wildfowl in front of you. There was nothing of note among the 850 or so wigeon, but there is so much life here, and the air is always filled with the calls of wigeon and whooper swans. Having enjoyed some shelter, I next walked out to Tofts ness, at the far north east of Sanday – one of the most exposed parts of the island. This area can be great for waders, but there was nothing of interest among the 300 golden plover. More accommodating were the three snow bunting that hunkered down among the pebbles and shingle on the beach. After quite a long morning, lunchtime called.

My notes for the afternoon are pretty sparse, which means I didn’t see very much! I walked from Lady to the little sea (a great looking tidal area that is good for waders) via Overbister, an area that usually has good numbers of golden plover. It didn’t disappoint in that regard with 800 goldies, but there was none of the rarer tackle among them. I picked up a couple of ruff here and there, and the little sea had a nice selection of common stuff including bar-tailed godwits, and a few grey plovers. The only sniff of a migrant I had was a sparrowhawk darting over the gardens once I’d got back to Lady, with a brandy coffee firmly in mind (me, not the sparrowhawk…)
 
Monday October 1st

Again, the day started with a trip out east, with the stubble fields around where we park the car hosting quite a high total of 52 black-tailed godwits, and a single ruff. And also, a lot of cows, still. While the others looped around North Loch in various directions I opted for a seawatch, with limited reward. Three great northern and a single red-throated diver passed, as did singles of puffin and great skua. The seawatch didn’t last half as long as I’d anticipated so I headed back up towards north loch, taking in a few gardens en route. Here, things began to look up, with the Letten area producing a willow warbler and a chiffchaff, to a backdrop of shoveler on Rhummie loch, doing their best to look unconcerned by the two short-eared owls that were drifting about. I met up with my lift and before going back to Lady for lunch decided to give one of the gardens a more thorough look – with their size and thick cover, they’re definitely a two birder job. As usual we went to knock on the door and in doing so, disturbed a large, pale grey warbler with a lot of white in the tale. A barred warbler – poor views, but eventually it gave itself up properly allowing more than just flight views. At last, something decent from the east - it’s amazing what a break in the wind can do.

After lunch I followed the same route as the previous day, but made the most of the calm conditions and took in the gardens in Lady first, picking up a chiffchaff and a robin – often conspicuously absent here in Autumn. Through the golden plovers again, made all the more difficult by a merlin keeping them on their toes. The little sea had a similar suite of waders, but raptors were much more evident with ringtail hen harrier, an absolute bruiser of a female peregrine, and a short-eared owl spooking everything on the flats. Continuing the theme, as I returned to Lady I was greeted by further singles of merlin and hen harrier. In no small part due to the conditions, it felt like a better day. The barred warbler had given us a bit of hope, and others had enjoyed the American golden plover again, the first barnacle geese of the trip, three more snow buntings, and a juvenile little gull – not a very common bird on Orkney.
 
Thanks very much for the lovely feedback folks!

Tuesday October 2nd

The storm after the calm (I think that’s how the phrase goes?). Rather devoid of ideas or the will not to be in shelter I started off at Cleat in the car (merlin, hen harrier and ruff) and then on to another seawatch at Neuks, and enjoyed six sooty shearwaters before braving the wind and rain. My notebook lists six barnacle geese in the fields at Salties but then the next entry reminds me that we went to a café for our lunch. The afternoon session was similarly hard work, although a drake long-tailed duck from the seawatch shelter was pretty notable from a Sanday point of view. The last throw of the dice was a check of the trees and bushes at Stove. Usually sheltered, this area can often hold (and reveal!) birds when more exposed areas do not, but again we drew a blank on interesting passerines, noting doubles of hen harrier and merlin. The log shows a similar lack of decent birds from the rest. A long, wet and windy day…
 
Wednesday October 3rd

A calmer day again. Some of the guys headed out east so I cadged a lift with them as far as Westayre loch and walked back to Lady from there. This route takes in some areas with great potential, not least Westayre itself, which has hosted multiple pectoral sandpipers in the past. This time however the water levels were much too high for waders, or anything else of interest for that matter, so it didn’t occupy me for too long. Heading back from Westayre takes you along a track flanked by large flat stones and a ditch full of vegetation. Here migrants can make use of the cover and shelter, but as you’ve probably guessed, the whole track produced nothing but a couple of wrens. In fact it wasn’t until I got to the farm at Crudy that things started to look up. There was nothing in the garden but behind the farm was a field planted up as a bird crop that was dripping with linnets, twites, skylarks and reed buntings. Cleat turned up a kestrel and a group of 17 black-tailed godwits, and as I arrived back at Lady the sun came out, leaving me to check around the gardens in bright sunshine and without a breath of wind. This soon indicated how much stuff we must have been missing as a result of the wind and rain, as Lady held at least 4 chiffchaffs, 2 robins, a song thrush (my only one of the trip!) and two redwings.

In the afternoon I made the hike out to Tresness. This has one of the best looking wetlands on the island and is surrounded by good migrant habitat. The fact that it’s a little out of the way means it gets less coverage from us than perhaps it should, as over various spring and autumn trips it’s produced bluethroats, marsh warbler, red-backed shrikes, nightjar, temmincks stint etc. By the time I’d got out there the wind had increased and heavy rain had set in, meaning migrant wise it was going to be tough going. A robin was around the new house, but the bulk of the activity was centred around the wetland. About 400 wigeon, 50 teal, and a handful of shoveler were rammed onto the small pond and ruff, dunlin, snipe, ringed plover and various alba wagtails picked around the edge. I sat with my back to the rain for a while, watching the spectacle in front of me before packing up and heading back, wading through weedy and ragworty patches all the way home to no avail.

Others had picked up singles of snow and Lapland bunting, a few sooty shearwaters, and the only whimbrel of the trip.
 
Thursday October 4th

I intended to seawatch first thing but got dropped off half way around the North Loch loop, meaning I’d need to take in a few more gardens and migrant ditches before getting down to neuks. It took me a little longer to get there than I expected as the gallery in Nortwa gave up 2 chiffchaff and a garden warbler (the only one of the trip) with the rather distracting backdrop of first three ringtail hen harriers and then three short-eared owls quartering over the loch side. There were six barnacle geese at Salties and in the fields around Thrave, the American golden plover put in another appearance, giving me an opportunity to have a proper look at this bird for the first time. The seawatching was very productive too, with about 90 minutes delivering nine sooty shearwaters, four Manx, five Arctic skua and a single adult pomarine skua, and some other very distant skuas, some of which also looked very ‘pom-ish’. A couple of great northern divers went past, as did two puffin and two purple sandpiper – again the only ones of the trip. En route back towards the car I took an absolute drenching but still managed to have third helpings of the AGP after a little bit of rooting around.

After lunch I ended up going east again. There are great spots to bird all over the island, but when inspiration levels are low, the multiple options provided by a trip to the east end often wins out! I seawatched again for a while, adding a couple more sooty shearwaters, and another long-tailed duck to the days tally. Two fieldfare passed overhead at Langbigging, and in the fields around Salties, the goose flock had swollen to now include 14 barnacle geese and 35 pink-footed. Among other things, other picked up 11 snow buntings, several redwing, and a different long-tailed duck.
 
Friday October 5th

For a change, I took in the Loop around Roos loch in the morning, walking back to Lady along the Burness road and through Otterswick bay. It was another windy day, but at least the rain was only coming in showers! I took advantage of one of the sunny spells to have a look round the jungle at Roos farm, finding a sunny and sheltered section and immediately coming across a chiffchaff. This is a huge area of cover and I dread to think what has lurked in there when we haven’t been around (and even when we have…) Migrants were becoming more apparent with a few thrushes in the jungle and a couple of redwing on the shore at Rooswick. Out on the water on Roos loch were 300 wigeon, and a handful of mute and whooper swans, and some tufted duck. What followed from there was a quiet walk back towards Lady, taking opportunities to hide in derelict farm buildings when the weather dictated. As I got nearer home the sun came out once more and a quick check of the garden at Otterswick revealed a yellow-browed warbler, the only one any of us managed to see all week, and very welcome it was too.

After lunch I walked the little sea loop once more, scattering jumpy goldies as I walked through Overbister, and enjoying close views of waders along the shore of the little sea. The yellow-browed warbler earlier on had definitely put me in mind to look for migrants, and the first place I checked at Ladybank delivered a fine, if fleeting barred warbler. After giving flight views and the briefest of heads through the foliage it vanished never to be seen again. A ringtail hen harrier quartered the marshes at Over-the-water and another over the reedbed at the back of the Bea Loch, while the big golden plover flock there returned nothing but European goldies in all of their various hues. I finished the day at the school, finding no migrants but picking through the thousands of common gull, starlings, sparrows etc that were feeding in a stubble field nearby. Another barred warbler was discovered by others at lunchtime, and the American golden plover remained at the east end. A respectable day, considering…
 
Saturday October 6th

At last, we had a calm, dry, sunny day. Very often, this spells r.a.r.e. on Sanday so we really gave it some welly, especially seeing as it was the last day. I went out east, and started by looking through the fields at Thrave, where in amongst the goldies were the now expected black-tailed godwits, ruff, and lingering American golden plover. A peregrine worried the waders, the same six barnacle geese fed in the field at Salties, and a single snow bunting passed overhead. The calm conditions had made looking for migrants much easier, but unfortunately I didn’t have much to work with, noting chiffchaff and willow warbler at Letten. Out on the water on North loch, the calm had made scoping through the ducks from on top of the old disused bunkers an option, which allowed us to add pochard and greater scaup to the trip list. Nothing rare new in, but a lovely morning’s birding.

In the afternoon, after lunching and clearing the house, we had a couple of hours to kill. I worked the gardens at Lady (a couple of chiffchaff and robin) before scooting round Cleat for a last look at nothing in particular. And that was it - or so I thought! En route to the ferry, we traditionally take a look at the sheltered garden at Stove, and while two of us struggled to produce anything there, we got a text from the other guys saying that they had found a new American golden plover in the ‘magic field’ on the Bea loch shore (a name that has stuck since the year we found 2 AGP and a buff-breasted sandpiper in it!). Excellent - we had time to go and had a look and still get to the ferry.

On our first pass of the magic field there was nothing to be seen - not a single golden plover, so we scanned around and found a flock in the distance to go and look at. With time pressing and difficult light we gave up on these quickly, but on passing the magic field again, noted 100 or so goldies close to the road. A quick scan through and there, third bird from the right, was a fine, almost pristine adult American golden plover. Very nice indeed, no time or need for photos or a feather by feather description (the others will have done that) now lets go and get on the boat.

‘The others' were already at the terminal and conversation quickly turned to that last throw of the dice and how the last day on Sanday always delivers. They started telling me about finding their American goldie and alarm bells started to ring - they described a scruffy bird, with many breeding plumage type upperparts moulted out, and a smoky supercilium. Their photos backed this up - but our bird had been sparkling, with a bright white super. By the looks of things, we’d seen different, new in, Amercan golden plovers! And also by the looks of things, we’d barely looked a the second bird, taken nothing resembling a description, and no photos…

We got onto the ferry wondering if we really could have seen different birds. I think we did, but the lack of documentary evidence, and the circumstances are enough to leave a bit of doubt (and a rarities committee would have even more, I’m sure) so we left it at 1 new bird. Still, Sanday always delivers. By the end of the week, we’d had two (or three…) AGP, three barred warblers, and a supporting cast of yellow-browed, sooties, poms, little gull, snow and Lapland bunting, raptors, waders and wildfowl. In the nicest possible way, we declared it our worst week on the island. We’ll be back in 2019 to go for our best.
 
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