Fair Isle 2017. Day 5. The day of the Swans.

Tuesday dawned clear and bright and eager to get out we set off as soon as we could after breakfast. News from 'down south', where Fred & Andy were staying at Springfield, was that there had been a good arrival of birds and it was looking promising. Straight away we knew the day was going to be special. Whooper Swans, Pinkfeet, Barnacle and Greylag Geese were streaming overhead making the most of the good weather to migrate. A spectacular sight.

Greylag Geese above, Whooper Swans below:

Fred & Andy had found a Grasshopper Warbler earlier and although they'd assured us it was 'just a gropper', news from Chris that it was very grey looking made us decide to have a look. Finding  Chris and Ken searching a few ditches looking puzzled we split up to search a wider area and sure enough a locustella warbler shot out from our feet before diving in to cover again. Eventually it perched up long enough to get good views and confirm it was indeed 'just a gropper'.

Jason had stayed at Quoy talking to one of the locals and when he joined us he told us that he'd had an interesting looking locustella in the ditch alongside the road so we all decided to head that way. One of the other Obs residents had also seen it briefly and thought it looked good for Lanceolated Warbler but despite our best efforts it wasn't relocated - with a number of culverts nearby it had probably shot up one of them.

Whilst chewing the fat and nattering amongst ourselves and deciding what to do next a male Siskin plonked itself down and started feeding unconcernedly alongside us.

A showy Garden Warbler, obviously tired and fresh in, was devouring crane flies alongside the road and we watched this for awhile before heading north to the Obs for a welcome shower and dinner.

Distance walked: 21.2 km