Sanday 28th September-7th October 2022 (1 Viewer)

[Steve Keen]

A little bit behind with posting this, but it's been a busy couple of days and evenings, and I'm only finding time now because the weather is horrendous so I'm stuck inside.
The plan had been 26th September-7th October but cancelled (due to gales) ferries I arrived two days late.

As I doubt I'll have time to write stuff up here as well as elsewhere I'll try and remember to post links to my blog, which is where it'll all be recorded. And there'll be regular Twitter posts at https://twitter.com/SwaySteveK

The two days so far are here:

Sanday Starts With A Bang

Finally made it! And so glad I did! No doubting bird of the day: Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll But more of that later. Finally arrived on the i...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

Before The Storm

Day two, and an excellent one too. Virtually no wind, and whilst it was cloudy all day too it's mostly been pretty pleasant. Unfortunately ...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

I'm also doing generic island-wide eBird checklists, although it may be that I get a little behind with these. Thus far:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S119692138

https://ebird.org/checklist/S119692893

Anyway, apologies for the cack-handedness of it all, and I hope it's of interest anyway.

Steve

 

[Steve Keen]

Managed to get out for a couple of hours or so once the rain cleared today, and it was better than expected:

Wet and Wild

Well, the forecast said wet and windy, and boy was it wet and windy! For a period around midday the wind was gusting around 70mph, and bein...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[Original PaulE]

Great pictures of the Arctic Redpoll, not seen a Hornemans as yet, well done on the Great Shearwater, still embarrassingly not on my list either!! Where are the GSW coming from Europe?

 

[Steve Keen]

Today's imaginatively titled blog offering:

Day Four

A nice full day out in the field today (apart from a fortuitously-timed late lunch back at the hostel), very much needed after yesterday! I...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[Steve Keen]

Great pictures of the Arctic Redpoll, not seen a Hornemans as yet, well done on the Great Shearwater, still embarrassingly not on my list either!! Where are the GSW coming from Europe?

Scandinavian birds. A lot of people have added them to their Orkney or Shetland lists this year off the back of quite an invasion.

 

[Steve Keen]

Mood Swings

An up a down kind of day today. Been in a delayed slightly bad mood after receiving an email yesterday saying my Arctic Redpoll from here la...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[Steve Keen]

Day Six

A fairly pleasant day today, up until mid afternoon anyway, when the wind picked up and then the rain came in. One to make the most of, bec...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[Steve Keen]

Autumnal

A day of two halves today, certainly in terms of weather. The morning was constantly wet, the afternoon more or less dry, and as is Orkney'...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[Steve Keen]

Redefining Rarity

Another day on Sanday, another morning North Loch loop walk! A little late starting as I waited for early rain to ease, and a nice treat on...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[Owene]

Really enjoying these

 

[Steve Keen]

Really enjoying these

Thanks very much. Really enjoyed writing them and nice to know the effort has been appreciated.

 

[Steve Keen]

Wild Weather Again

Been a wild day of persistently strong winds, gusting frequently to force 9, and lots of squally showers, often torrential, and including s...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[Steve Keen]

Last Day

Final day on Sanday (but still with a second boat crossing to do and then 700-ish miles to drive tomorrow, and possibly Sunday if I don't l...

swaysteve.blogspot.com

 

[MKinHK]

Many thanks for your highly enjoyable reports Steve. I love island migrant birding and am missing it big time since I left Hong Kong for Sydney.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Steve Keen]

Assuming I've done everything right all my Sanday ebird lists should be at this link:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/81115?welcome=true

111 species was a good haul considering the conditions. Matched the 2021 tally (although two of those subsequently didn't satisfy the powers that be - two of this years will also be adjudicated upon by wiser folk than me), despite what can only be described as mostly atrocious weather. NW gales delayed my arrival, and various other gales (and a not insignificant amount of precipitation) punctuated my stay, and also caused more boat cancellations very soon after my departure.
Despite Great Shearwater being a lifer, bird of the trip probably goes to the Bluethroat on the same day (the only one with reasonable weather): the latter is just the sort of thing I head up there for, and it got the pulse racing even though I've seen masses before.
Not far behind them was the minimum total of 6 Yellow-browed Warblers (9 bird-days in all), a decent self-found haul given the conditions.
Honourable mention to Russ Neave's Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, and also the Rose-coloured Starling.
And an excellent haul of wildfowl on the last day.

The weather severely affected how much of the island I explored this year: I didn't even get to do a thorough count of Cata Sands, because at no point did the rising tide match helpful weather. At times scanning lochs was tricky to say the least, and finding small birds a nightmare (although I doubt many were there to find). The thought of heading out onto exposed headlands such as Tresness did not appeal at all. An awful lot of birding involved scanning wader flocks in fields from the car.

All the more reason, though, to try again next year!! Maybe next time I'll not fix dates until nearer the time, and a call can be made on the weather, although I know from experience that just because the forecasts say it'll be easterly next week, doesn't mean that won't change to westerly the minute I book something!

Cheers all for reading the posts

Steve