Saturday
1st October very light N-NE Sunny for the most part
with one shower around 1:30PM
Sunshine,
calm conditions and a flat sea, I decide to seawatch off Buness.
A
slavonian grebe is close in at North haven and a single knot is
together with sanderling and turnstone on the disused jetty there. On
the furthest piece of Buness, on a seat-shaped rock, I watch the sea
and all is well. The gentle swell gives a soundscape of serenity as
waves gently cover rocky outcrops and fall away leaving cascades of
white water.
Fulmars
are passing as always in good numbers and gannets too. This makes it
easy to spot any bird with different flight; a different jizz as
birders would say.
A
guillemot tazzes past, straight, direct and fast. A grey plover calls
as it flies past in the opposite direction. A first year kittiwake is
going the same way and I naughtily think that my photograph of it
could be photoshopped into a sabine's gull. How long before the first
birding cheat tries to do such a thing? Has it happened already?
Memories of the Caspian gadwall.....
(To
see what that was all about click on the following link.
You
won't regret it. Flying penguins, breeding great auks etc. Oh dear ..
the video is blocked for copyright reasons. Try this link for the
flying penguins . .
Two
hours of soporific enjoyment, hoping for orcas but reflecting on
nature, goes by andit starts to drizzle. No problem, adds to the
atmosphere. Drizzle turns to not forecasted rain. I head for the Bird
Observatory for a coffee.
Plastic
trawler net is on the beach. A large yellow fertilizer bag is on the
beach. A large plastic bottle is on the beach. In the rain I collect
them. At the skip I am told that I can't put them in there any more.
There is no room after the bin liners from the crofts and the Bird
Obs' have filled it. “Get a box of matches and burn it.”
It
is not fault of the crofter who tells me this. Cut backs means that
there are now fewer waste skips brought to the island. I need to
email some people. I won't stop collecting the obscene waste that is
found on every beach here and arrives on every tide. The seal with a
plastic neck-cutting necklace of fishing net deserves better.
A
yellow-browed is in the garden and two redpolls. They look lesser to
me but I don't get good views in the pouring rain.
After
a light lunch, an apple, I walk up to the radio mast and on to the
geos of the west coast. From Skinner's to Tyneside, my favourite part
of Fair Isle, I walk, sit for prolonged periods and enjoy the
stunning scenery. There are almost no migrant birds; plenty of
fulmars and gannets as expected. The only unusual bird is a snow
bunting at Guidicam.
A
text tells of a humpback whale moving not too far away over in
Orkney. The whale first seen off Sanday has been seen off North
Ronaldsay and I am hoping that it turns east. The conditions are
perfect for whale watching. The horizon is crisp and clear and the
sea flat calm.
The
sun starts to go down and so I head back for the observatory. Maybe
tomorrow for the humpback. Maybe tomorrow for some new migrant birds.
Well the wind is north east, could be good.
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