A week in Orkney

01st October 2016

Orkney is a fantastic area for birds and the temptation of a visit in the 3rd week of September was that some interesting migrants would turn up. In the end the weather was settled and warm, with winds mainly from the south, and therefore conditions a little benign for huge migrant falls. North Ronaldsay has become one of Scotland's migration hotspots but all I could manage was a day trip on a little 8 seater plane. Nonetheless it was good to see a number of warblers including Yellow-browed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler and Blackcap. The highlight was probably several groups of Lapland Buntings and a wandering Osprey. On the return trip we landed at Papa Westray, an experience in itself. Back on mainland Orkney there were huge flocks of Golden Plover, Lapwing, Snipe and Curlew to enjoy. I managed to find another Yellow-Browed Warbler on South Ronaldsay and catch up with a Barred Warbler at Sandside on Deerness. A colour ringed Little Stint at Birsay Bay was another highlight and images of this and several other birds are in the UK Gallery. Orkney has much to offer apart from the sheer volume of birds, and we found the people very friendly, good quality local produce readily availabe, and in comparison to Skye, much more reasonably priced restaurants and better maintained roads!

Bob

THE BOOK

"A glorious little gem"

AMAZON

"A book such as this has to look backwards and the author does so succinctly, looking at the work of several of the pioneering naturalists before picking out the publications of JA Harvie-Brown and the Rev. Hugh Macpherson. I know this book fills a real gap in the information available for the Isle of Skye and it will surely sell well at local bookshops."

Andrew Currie Miscellany West Highland Free Press

"A total of 238 species have been recorded, with 14 of those 'red listed' as of high conservation concern ... another innovation has been the inclusion of Gaelic names for some birds. While this is not uncommon in a few other books, the addition of some regional Gaelic names is very unusual and very welcome."

Ray Collier Country Diary 'Up in the Skye' The Guardian

"Illustrated with beautiful photographs of current birdlife on the island, the publication also features sketches by Jean Thomas of The Little Gallery, Portnalong, stimulating the reader's interest further and allowing them to identify species they encounter on Skye."

The Hebridean