birding update 26/04/2016

The days are drawing out and i am finding myself waking at 4am and going to bed at around 11pm most of the week. Bird action is increasing, i will start with the Ravens , there is a lot of news with proposed culls which i do not agree with. They are wanting to cull them because of their "vicious attacks on sheep" which i have seen no evidence of. Anyway Ravens start nesting really early and birds in Sanday were preparing nests in January . As we speak i am watching 5 nests with young of various ages from a week to 4 and a half weeks . Some are tiny and helpless and some are about to fledge . I was worried about a cliff nesting pair yesterday with winds of 70/80 kmph i set off at 7pm to go and have a look . As always dad was on his perch and mum was further down the cliff. All four young were absolutely fine so i left and kept watch of a pair of Great skua doing the rounds.
Hen Harrier are doing really well in Orkney and 3 individuals a male and  ringtail are a common sight on Sanday , i am hoping they nest but not seen much activity of this , although there was a fair bit of chasing from the two ringtails last week. I see them daily and it is such an honour. Short eared owls are everywhere it seems with at least 5 individuals still on Sanday , they love a nice hot day , i watch them hunting the shores on a calm day ......

Took this short yesterday evening in the last light of day . The cliffs are really starting to fill up with breeding birds, have seen a lot of kittiwakes with a couple on the cliffs but no concrete evidence yet they are going to breed here. Razorbills are starting to frequent the cliffs a lot so hoping to update you soon on these. Puffins i have seen offshore for a couple of weeks and have a tip -off on a location  that may sound promising. Shags are early breeders and in two colonies we have three pairs now on eggs and lots of mating and pairing so fingers crossed for a good season, they had quite a bad winter with a lot of young individuals being found dead from the storms.

Migrants seem to be well and truly on the move with Arctic tern, Sandwich tern being most recent, Wheatears seem to be everywhere and i have had a lot of goldcrest in the garden.

A pair of Linnet are frequenting the garden lots so really hope they nest here , woul dlike some nice shots of these birds.

I will leave you with a shot from two days a go ......