As usual we were up for an early breakfast, whilst looking into the garden at Burkle to see what new migrants had appeared overnight, before heading off with rucksacks laden with food & drink, cameras & binoculars for a day in the field.
The Tennessee Warbler was still doing the circuit of its favoured crofts and there were a few other migrants around to keep up our interest with Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Pied & Spotted Flycatchers present in small numbers. Numbers are surprisingly and depressingly low though. The Pec Sand we found on our 1st day was still around and the wader contingent included Lapwing, Ruff & a single Black-tailed Godwit as well as the ‘resident’ waders.
We’d walked the length of Hill Dyke (where we recorded two flyover Lapland Buntings) & were heading across to Pund, where there’s a nice nettle bed, when news came through that Nina had found a Wryneck there. Sure enough we found this cryptically coloured member of the woodpecker family feeding along a fence line before it flew in the direction of Chalet.
Next to flash up on the news group was a Siberian Stonechat, just along the road at Field, so we meandered up to take a look. Unfortunately it was always quite distant but Rob & Alex got good enough photos for it to be identified as ‘maurus’ as opposed to ‘stejnegers’. Another good bird and almost annual here.
Walking back south & exploring every little bit of habitat we found ourselves at the crofts on the SE end of the island where our 1st Yellow-browed Warbler of the trip popped up from a Rosa bed and flew onto a dead seed head of Angelica. Several had been seen across Fair Isle but this was our first.
Heading down Walli Burn towards The Haa we split up to look into the garden from different angles - only for me to have, presumably the same Wryneck, fly up onto the gable end of the garage & then onto a nearby pile of wood & plastic barrels.
Bumping into Luke he told us a Lapland Bunting was favouring the area round the old stone sheep cru just across from where we were lazing in the sun at Meoness.
Another good day and another 20+ km covered!
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