Flaming June.

After a day of drenching rain and howling westerlies the weather improved, although things were still fairly quiet on the bird front. Alby the Eastern Subalp gave us a scare when he seemed to disappear, but thankfully Log revealed he was still present and had just remained hidden for most of the day. A few birds have appeared including Short-eared Owl, a couple of Crossbills, Redwing, Blackbird, Redstart and another Snow bunting - just enough to keep us hoping for something a bit better perhaps...

This very approachable juvenile Crossbill was feeding on peanuts at Auld Haa today, thanks to Tommy for the call and access to the garden.

As June approaches things get very hectic on the breeding bird front, with monitoring and ringing getting into full swing. It's too early to say how the seabird season will go, there'll be more updates during the season, but signs from Shetland generally don't seem to be too promising so far.

After having the first clutch predated, this pair of Ringed Plover seem to have found somewhere safer this time round - can you see the incubating bird?

Even if things are relatively quiet on the migration front, the daily census is still a very enjoyable experience as the island looks rather bonny at the moment, although we're all hoping the easterly wind forecasted for early next week brings a few good birds as well!