Car Trouble!

At last! S'ly winds, well SW'ly actually but good enough! A text from Jack first thing informed me there was a Wood Sandpiper at the Chalet pond. I learnt later that it somehow escaped from a trip-wire wader trap!!! The Heligoland traps did catch a Sedge Warbler, a Chiffchaff, two Dunnocks, a Robin, a male Crossbill and a female Goldfinch. The two Dotterel linger on Busta Brecks and there was a Common Sandpiper in South Haven. Bird of the day however was the male Bluethroat at the Obs!

On Wednesday, Ann Cleeves returned with a couple of German journalists. I showed them around the new obs then took them to see some seabirds and to talk about our work, the island, birders.....and Blue Lightning. This morning I repeated it all again (except for the Blue Lightning bit) with Mark Steven from Radio Scotland's 'Out of Doors' show. If you happen to be up early on Saturday (6.30 am) you can take a listen! If not, its repeated at 11.00am on Sunday!

We're having a bit of a vehicle disaster this month! The people carrier stopped working for no apparent reason yet again, just a couple of weeks after coming back from a three month stint at the garage in Lerwick, wher they could find no fault. It is now back out there but as soon as it arrived, it started first time!! They have agreed to run some tests. Next, the van ran out of diesel ( I shan't embarrass the poor AW who did it by naming him, but its the one with the driving licence!) and as a consequence the fuel filter has now become blocked and it won't start. I've ordered another but it'll take a week or so to get here! Then today, our trusty Mondeo has all but given up the ghost. The clutch has been on its way out for a few weeks now and it has now got so bad that it can't make it up the hills without a huge run-up. Luckily, we have found a temporary replacement - an old Escort that will hopefully keep us going for a few months. Thankyou Rob Fray!!!