Saturday 24 July 2021

24th July 2021 Unst NE3 Overcast and misty

The day started early as we were kindly invited to attend a Storm Petrel ringing session at Lamba Ness so joined Phil, Glen, Gina, Kristofer, Mike & Margaret with the first Stormie being trapped at a minute after midnight! It was a very enjoyable session albeit it never got truly dark and the breeze persisted stronger than forecast. A total of 18 Stormies were ringed with plenty more seen through Phil's infra-red scope but a couple of vocal Leach's evaded capture. After a few hours sleep a visit to Skaw proved fruitless but a sea-watch from Lamba Ness from 8.30am - 9.30am in misty conditions produced a single Manx Shearwater and 2 Storm Petrels all flying north. A visit to Norwick beach produced the lingering colour-flagged Sanderling but there was no sign of the Bonaparte's Gull - presumably attracted to the nearby cut hay fields along with the majority of other Gulls.

Mike and Storm Petrel at Lamba Ness

Arctic Skua passing Lamba Ness