Season in Full Swing

A lot happens in a month on the Farnes, especially at this time of year. The only thing that hasn't changed appears to be the weather, as the sun refuses to shine for long and westerly winds persist; enough to drive any rarity-hunter to distraction at this time of year. Luckily this week the Black-winged Pratincole at Bothal brought some very welcome relief from this spell without rares. I managed a few poor "record shots" but to be honest I was more interested in enjoying this majestic bird as it put on a real show for the gathered crowd, flying within 20 metres of us at times. My first Pratincole...

Black-winged Pratincole at Bothal; a fabulous fabulous bird.

A BWP arriving on the Farnes at this time of year would have some competition for attention though, as all our resident species are present in maximum number and we have plenty of chicks around as well. Cute vs Rare. Our Shag chicks are by far and away the most developed, exactly as we would expect. Some are already looking too big for the nest, and it will be a busy period ahead for the parents of all these hungry mouths.

We now also have Kittiwake, Razorbill and Guillemot chicks emerging, and fresh batches of Eider ducklings appear every day. While eggs are still dominant, it won't be long before that trend reverses, and all our birds will be busy feeding up their chicks, readying them for their first trip out to sea. One sign we eagerly await at this time of year is Puffins bringing in Sand Eels, which can only mean one thing... PUFFLINGS a serious contender for the Farnes most adorable chick. Then again, the competition is very stiff.

If that isn't cute, I don't know what is. Puffling.

Staying low for now, it won't be long before these little guys are off to sea! 

Without doubt the species with the most "presence" on the islands are the Arctic Terns. For the the next few months our home becomes theirs and life very much evolves to fit in around these magnificent birds. A majority of them are now down on eggs and in a few weeks we will begin to find the newest generation of this truly remarkable species. It never ceases to amaze me when I walk around the islands that by the end of this year, some of these birds (currently tiny eggs) will be somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, most likely off the coast of Australia or the Antarctic pack ice. This species experiences more daylight hours than any other animal on the planet. It's not all about the Arctic Terns though. We have our colony of Common and Sandwich Terns all now on eggs as well, and we expect to see chicks from them soon too.

A typical Arctic Tern nest

And a typical view of an Arctic Tern on Inner Farne

On Inner Farne recently have also been the usual pair of Roseate Tern that grace the islands at this time of year. They display, even copulate, threaten to breed and then disappear. Every year we keep our fingers crossed that they will stick around to breed again.

Two Roseate with an Arctic Tern getting involved too.

It's not all about the seabirds on the islands either. Hopefully it's third time lucky for a pair of Ringed Plover on Inner Farne, and this time they've chosen the beach near to the Arctic Terns. This time we've got in early and put a cage over the eggs to keep them safe from predators, but still allow access for the Ringed Plover. We have also ringed the first Pied Wagtail chicks of the year, and it won't be long until they'll be out and about and exploring the islands.

Ringed Plover amongst the beautiful lichen that covers the rocks around the islands

Wonderfully camouflaged Ringed Plover eggs (although sometimes not enough)

Looks nice and cosy in there

And finally, believe it or not it's no always about the birds. As we were getting a lift back out to the islands after our day off, a sharp-eyed visitor spotted a fin. It turned out to be around 15 split between two pods of Bottlenose Dolphins. They we simply wonderful to watch, jumping clean out of the water and swimming right along side the boat. As we edge into summer sightings will become more and more frequent.

Lana kindly pointing the Bottlenose Dolphin out!

This week marks the start of what is perhaps the busiest two weeks of the year for us. Cliff counts  were due to begin on 1st June, however yet more strong winds have meant that so far we have been unable to get out. The birds here seemed to have faired okay in the storm-like conditions of the last few days, but we won't truly know until we are out and counting. Somewhere in between the 10 counts we do, nest count day. This is as it sounds; we meticulously walk the islands that contain breeding birds and count every single nest. Once the counts are all in we will have a much better idea of how numbers are doing this year. I hope to be back writing on Sunday about the lovely fall of migrants that we may or may not receive on Friday with easterlies forecast. However every time I check the forecast they seem to decrease in strength and duration. This is surely our last chance to get a nice scattering of Spring scarcities, and if it doesn't happen then all attention will be focused on late June, when hopefully our special guest will return for the third year in a row.....

Gulls are in the air!

As is spring. With westerly winds, birding has been slow over the last few days, on both the seabird and migrant fronts. Aside from a few wheatear and a blackbird, the sunshine over the last few days has been a welcome relief, and also presented a great opportunity to photograph some of the resident birds on the island, and I chose to target the gulls. Somewhat unappreciated and often demonised, our resident gulls are clean, sharp and elegant looking birds. Our smallest resident is the Black-headed Gull, which doesn't make a particularly pleasant noise but is on the rise and is good news for the Terns and waders that they nest around, as they are great at seeing off predators. We have around 500 pairs on the island, including these two.

Black-headed Gulls reflecting on island life!!

The next step up are the Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls. And then top of the chain, the Greater Black-backed Gulls; ferocious predators which are picking through the islands population of Feral Pigeons at present.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Greater Black-backed Gull with its meal

In other news around the islands, Sandwich Tern numbers continue to build, and courtship is taking place, which involves some splendid dancing, offers of small fish and lots of chasing around, as these two are perfectly demonstrating. We have also had our first new arrivals of the year, in the form of 9 very cute Mallard ducklings, and we were delighted today to discover the first Ringed Plover nest of the year, which is incredibly well camouflaged on the rocks and allows great views of this wonderful little bird.

Sandwich Terns courting

Mallard and her ducklings

Ringed Plover returns to the nest

Fair Isle 2! The migrants just keep coming....

So here is my second update from Fair Isle, and what a few days it has been. My species list continues to grow, with the arrival of Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Reed Warbler, Redstart, Winchat, Spotted Flycatcher, Little Stint and Common Sandpiper. There have also been some rather special arrivals as well. The first were in the form of two Citrine Wagtails, which we were able to locate fairly easily in murky conditions after they were spotted on the morning census! The next special arrival came in the form of a Wryneck, with at least two present yesterday, one being in the observatory garden! Unfortunately, I could only get fairly poor record shots through the glass so as not to scare it away from the small crowd that had gathered (and its sideways)!!




Wryneck Jynx torquilla  

 
Another bird that has arrived and been seen in small numbers in the last few days is the Barred Warbler. This larger warbler breeds in eastern Europe and central Asia, and migrates to Arabia and east Africa, so the individuals that end up on Fair Isle are somewhat lost! There are only about 150 of these birds that pass through the UK each year, so to see one is rare, but to catch and ring two is quite remarkable!



Barred Warbler, Sylvia nisoria



Barred Warbler, Sylvia nisoria



Other birds of note that were trapped and rung in the last few days include a smart (for autumn) male Redstart and juvenile Ringed Plover!



Common Redstart, Phoenicurus phoenicurus




Ringed Plover, Charadrius hiaticula