Mixed Bag

15th March
With the weather managing beautiful, horrible and ‘a bit meh’ on consecutive days, this is a typical early spring spell. It looks like there’s more westerlies and rain on the way, although the possibility of a day or two of strong south-easterlies and maybe some colder north-westerlies in the next week might shake things up a bit. I’ve had the laryngitis-style bug that’s being doing the rounds of Fair Isle during the last few days, so my forays out have been a bit restricted by that as well as the weather. At least it’s been good for getting on with some of the indoor preparations for the rapidly approaching new season (helped no end by having my parents here), including the pre-season haircut. Whilst I was busy with the clippers, I also ended my experiment with attempting a beard (I still can’t manage a decent one, so no chance of Jarl Parnaby for a while yet). The Prediction Competition page has been updated, so get your thinking caps on for a bit of fun with what birds may turn up in 2014 - be quick though, there's just a fortnight left to get your lists in.
Anyway, the lack of fresh air seems to have caused me to waffle somewhat, so on to the bird news. The stormy weather on 14th saw singles of Iceland and Glaucous Gull sheltering on the island, whilst the Kumlien’s Gull was still present on 15th. New migrants were thin on the ground, although there was a slight increase in Meadow Pipits on 15th, when there was also a Woodpigeon at the Plantation and two Goldcrest in the Gully. Two Jack Snipe in Boini Mire could have been migrants, but equally may have been wintering birds; either way, they were a useful by-product of Grace testing her new wellies! Lapwings have been displaying recently, another sign of the rapidly approaching spring.