Slowly, slowly...

19th-22nd March
With SW gales forecast for Friday, my parents took advantage of the better weather on Thursday to head home (a good decision as it happens, as there were no flights on Friday and, even if the Northlink crossing wasn’t great on Thursday, I suspect it will have been much worse on Friday night). A slightly better day on Saturday didn’t bring much more in the way of birds, but I know I’m not alone in looking forward to the weather next week, which the forecasts suggest could be perfect for encouraging spring migration to kick up a notch. Without wishing to get too excited by the first sniff of potentially decent weather, I’m predicting a Bluetail amongst a few Robins, thrushes etc sometime next week! 

Grace and Freyja (pictured by Gramps) enjoying the start of spring (well, a quite spring like day at least)

The only addition to the year list was Lesser Black-backed Gull (from 21st) and, whilst the regular breeding species are coming back (or passing through) in larger numbers (with 11 Pied Wagtails, 16 Lapwing and 20 Ringed Plover on 22nd for example), not many migrants of note have arrived with them. Two Rooks passed through (21st), a Goldcrest was at Barkland (22nd), a Woodock was at the Obs (21st) and up to 20 Snow Bunting probably all involved new migrants, whilst the trapping area held five Blackbirds and 2 Robins on 22nd, similar numbers to recent times, but the fact that the three Blackbirds caught today were all unringed males (and the one trapped Robin was also an unringed bird) would suggest that perhaps the wintering birds have moved on and fresh migrants are starting to come through.

You aint seen me, right?

The Green-winged Teal was still present (with the Teal flock building up to seven), with other lingering wildfowl including 2 Long-tailed Duck and a Red-breasted Merganser and other birds still around including Peregrine and Moorhen (to 21st at least).
It was good to see plenty of Razorbills back on 22nd (200+ were off Furse and the North cliffs), but Guillemots have still to make a real comeback, with just the occasional day of a heavy presence and none at all noted on 22nd.
A day of rain and strong, cold north-westerlies is forecast for Sunday, then bring on the SE winds...

Tealing a March

19th March

Green-winged Teal (Deryk Shaw)

A rather windy day (mostly from the SW), with heavy rain early on leaving the waterfalls in the Gully looking rather spectacular. The weather put paid to flights again (the last was on Monday morning) and the forecast for the next couple of days isn't looking great. My parents are due off on Friday, and are starting to get a bit concerned (I’m sure it is because they have other things booked, rather than being worried about adding to the badly sprained ankle and laryngitis they have accumulated so far!), but it’s been great to see them again and, as ever, they’ve proved a wonderful help in getting ready for the new season.

Bird news was fairly quiet today, although the Green-winged Teal became the first one on Fair Isle to be seen away from Da Water, when it relocated to the Parks.

Teal (left), Green-winged Teal (right) and, technically, Teal sp? (middle).

Speaking of the GWT, I’ve made a minor amendment to the Prediction Competition rules to take into account long-staying birds that arrive before the start of the competition (see the relevant page for details).

Iceland Gull yesterday (Deryk Shaw). Always nice to have around, but I'd settle for the white-wingers moving on and being replaced by some more summery stuff now.

Also, once you’ve completed your Prediction List, check out the Fair Isle MarineEnvironment and Tourism Initiative (FIMETI) website, which has now been completely updated.

The FIMETI News page contains details of the forthcoming stakeholders meeting between the Fair Isle community and fishermen's representatives on 24th March, plus some upcoming cultural and environmental events, including 'Da Fishing Hands' premiere of music and song on 23rd May and a Fair Isle Maritime Festival of supporting events from 22nd to 25th May. Also, the Clipperton Project is planning a scientific and educational expedition to Fair Isle in June.
FIMETI's latest annual newsletter 'Making Waves' - with full news and updates regarding Fair Isle's continuing quest for a Marine Protected Area - will be published on the Newsletters page of the website shortly.
If you would like to register your support the Fair Isle community and a marine protected area for the waters around Fair Isle, please do so via the website's Guestbook. FIBOT is proud to be a partner in FIMETI and Fair Isle's marine environment is of such importance to the island, we'd encourage anyone with an interest in the island to find out more about the project.

Teal of Approval

18th March
A much better day today, with just occasional showers and very little wind. The Good Shepherd sailed and brought back a variety of exciting things, including a new freezer and two fridges for the Obs (well, we were quite excited at least). In the evening we had an interesting meeting attended by a lot of the islanders discussing the proposed MPA for Fair Isle then it was off home to watch the second episode of this series of Shetland (based on the books written by former FIBO cook Ann Cleeves). I really enjoyed it, although anyone who hasn’t visited Shetland before should note that we do get sunshine as well as fog sometimes!

SPOILER ALERT! It also ended on a great exchange between Magnus Bain (Brian Cox) and Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall): ‘Whar’s du fae?’ ‘I’m fae Fair Isle’, which seems like a great catchphrase (I might get it made up as a t-shirt). Douglas Henshall was also very complimentary of his stay on Fair Isle in an interview, although he was perhaps a little harsh on our airstrip! The cast and crew were all great to be around and it’s good to see the results on screen now – we’re looking forward to episodes five and six, which are based on Fair Isle.
Shortly afterwards, we got the news that Fair Isle Primary had made the final of the competition mentioned in the last blog post (see here for news). Hopefully their efforts will be rewarded by winning the prize of a trip to London, we’ll report further when we get any more news.
Anyway, on to the birds. The calm weather did indeed aid migration, with Deryk finding the day’s star bird (and the rarest find of the year so far for the island): a drake Green-winged Teal on Da Water. It accompanied the three Teal that had been present for a few days at least (so appears to have arrived alone) and is only the third record for the island following drakes on Da Water on 25th-27th April 2009 and 31st March-6th May 2012. There has to be a hint of a returning bird given its previous absence from the island’s avifauna, although the lack of records in intervening years suggest that this is maybe just an upturn in records (and the coincidence in location is easily explained by the lack of many other suitable water bodies on the island).

A distant record shot of the Green-winged Teal.

There were two other additions to the year list; Grey Heron and Moorhen (the latter a relatively scarce spring migrant, with one running along Pig Street this afternoon), taking the total to 82 for the year (the same as the end of March last year). Generally migrants were not abundant, although Meadow Pipits increased to over 20, two Pied Wagtails appeared at the Obs and as well as the wintering flock of around 80 Greylag, over 30 others passed through. A Merlin may well have been a wintering bird, and the Kumlien’s Gull was still present.
The weather is set to return to strong westerly-based wind with rain for the next few days (or weeks, if we really have used up all our south-easterlies over the winter…), so it’s likely to be quieter again for a while, but it’s starting to feel like spring has finally made it, so there will hopefully be a few more birds struggling through regardless.

16^th-17^th March
Another couple of soggy days, although with the wind decreasing things felt a bit better at times. We went to a very professional and rather moving film about the FairIslanders who died in World War I yesterday evening. It was mnade by the pupils and staff of Fair Isle Primary and it’s part of a Scottish-wide competition they have entered, which they really deserve to do well in (they find out later this week if they’ve been shortlisted for the prize, so best of luck to them).
There are still birds to be seen, with the Kumlien’s Gull present over both days and there were two Glaucous Gulls on both dates (involving at least three individuals) and an Iceland Gull. Lingering migrants included up to three Woodpigeon and a Goldcrest, with a female Stonechat in the south (on 16^th, but present since 13^th), 4 Snow Buntings at the Skadan (17^th) and recent sightings of Yellowhammer and Lapland Bunting. The Twite flock at the Obs has grown to 13 (although 17 have been trapped here in the last week and several other unringed birds are around) and there was frogspawn in the pond outside the Visitor Centre for the first time (although some ‘rescued’ spawn was transplanted there last year) since it was dug in 2011.

It's been a reasonable winter for white-winged Gull sightings, with almost a guarantee that any gathering of 50+ large gulls will contain at least one Glaucous. The slopes above Johnny's Peats have proved particularly productive.

Another calmish day is forecast for Tuesday, so hopefully the Good Shepherd will sail –it’s last run before it brings in the AWs next week.  Exciting times, let’s see if they bring some birds with them…

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.

The Chat's out of the bag.

12^th March
The strong winds gradually subsided, culminating in a glorious clear, sunny day today with a real feeling that the winter is behind us (let’s see whether that is the case…).
The air was full of Skylark song and Oystercatcher calls today, Guillemots had returned to the cliffs (and 10 Razorbill were in Ditfield on 10^th) and the wintering birds such as Blackbirds and Common Gulls are fading away. In their place, more migrants are coming through with additions to the year list comprising Mistle Thrush (9^th, with another 12^th), Yellowhammer (10^th), Lapland Bunting (found dead on 12^th) and Goldcrest (12^th).  A redpoll sp? was in the Havens 12^th (hopefully that might make it into the Obs garden Twite flock tomorrow). Other migrants included another Stonechat (a male on 12^th), up to six Snow Buntings, two Woodpigeon (11^th, with at least one still 12^th), a vocal Golden Plover heading over (12^th) and a few Song Thrushes (peaking at 3 on 12^th).

The third Stonechat of the spring was only the 9th to be ringed on Fair Isle in the last 20 years.

As Twite numbers build up, several have been trapped at the Obs, including a few old timers. So far, these have included two birds ringed in spring 2010 and one ringed on 2nd April 2009 (which puts it fairly close to the UK Twite longevity record). Interestingly (perhaps), of the seven retrapped birds in the last couple of days, only two were last year's youngsters. Is this the older birds coming through first, or has the winter been less kind on young birds?

The traps also produced the first Fieldfare of the year to be ringed, which Grace was less than impressed with when it pooed down her leg!

The Kumlien’s Gull was still lingering (to 12^th), with a few other wintering birds including Merlin, up to three each of Wigeon and Teal and a Red-breasted Merganser.

Rock Pipits are present year round on Fair Isle, but we're still learning about their movements. Colour-ringing in Grampian has shown that at least some of our birds (both adults and youngsters) move to North-east Scotland in the winter. This bird trapped at the Obs on 9th looks to be developing the greyer head and pinker underparts of the Scandinavian race littoralis. Scandinavian birds are regular in the spring and occasionally stay to breed, whilst they possibly also make up an unknown percentage of our wintering population.

As the season is rapidly approaching (less than two weeks until the first keen staff arrive!), I’ll try to get the Prediction Competition pages updated shortly for the 2014 competition, but the rules will be the same and only a few species will have changed their status, so you can start drafting your lists for that now.  Is Fair Isle ‘due’ another first for Britain, will the mild winter have helped certain species (my bet is on something quite impressive in early April as there seems to have been a lot of interesting stuff overwintering in western Europe this year; a Bluetail, or a surprising American perhaps), which species are due an irruption and will we finally get an Egret on Fair Isle (although perhaps Glossy Ibis is more likely…)? We’ll find out soon enough.

Signs of spring.

The Kumlien's Gull is one of a number of decent birds for Fair Isle recorded this winter, although the lack of cold spells seems to have acted against any real winter movements. Still, the year list had reached 72 by the end of February, eight ahead of the same stage last year!

After a few days away getting a top-up of woodland species (I suspect that may be the last Nuthatch and Long-tailed Tit I ring for a while, although you never know…), it’s good to be back home.

Ringing a male Eider at Seahouses. Sadly, my lucky red and white Fair Isle scarf was unable to prevent Man City beating Sunderland 3-1 in the League Cup final later in the day (a match that was written up with great glee in the Fair Isle Times by one of the isle's younger Newcastle fans!).

After a couple of pleasant days, southerly gales (with gusts of up to 75mph yesterday) have kicked in, bringing wintry showers with them, so March hasn’t really brought much of a spring feel to it yet.

It's been good wave watching weather. Although these Herring Gulls are probably hoping for some calmer weather soon.

A small arrival of birds in early March saw a female Stonechat 1^st-5^th, which was joined by a male on 4^th-6^th, Pied Wagtail at South Light on 4^th (over three weeks earlier than the first last year, although that was a very late first arrival), Woodpigeon 3^rd-4^th and Chaffinch 3^rd.

There were no Stonechats at all in 2012 despite the offer of a Mars Bar for anyone who could find one Although there was a slight return to form last year, it's still nice to get a couple of early records.

Other signs of spring included building numbers of Oystercatcher (with at least 50 now present), Skylark (40+ now around), Ringed Plovers arriving (having built up in numbers from 22^nd they reached 18 by 6^th), Lapwing increasing to 15 (6^th), Fair Isle Wrens in song and the Twite flock in the Obs garden building up.

Other additions to the year list have been Shelduck on 22^nd February and an early Red-throated Diver sheltering in Furse on 6^th.
The Kumlien’s Gull has lingered throughout, with up to two juvenile Glaucous Gulls also present regularly.

The Kumlien's Gull has usually been in the fields around Leogh, but has recently been spending more time around the Meoness area and joined the gulls in South Harbour yesterday.

Other typical wintering birds included occasional records of Peregrine and Merlin, Red-breasted Merganser and Long-tailed Duck, whilst small numbers of thrushes (including a Song Thrush at the Obs, which was presumably new) and Robins are still being regularly noted (trapping at the Obs showed at least three are lingering in the garden here).

A small throng of gulls contained the Kumlien's and a Glaucous Gull yesterday as strong winds and large waves crashed what was presumably a reasonable food supply onto the beach.

One species that doesn’t often feature on the blog is House Sparrow, but a flock of 61 at the feeders at Brecks was interesting and perhaps suggests a decent overwinter survival. One species that isn’t surviving as well is Guillemot, with small numbers washing up dead in the Havens most days (it’s certainly been the worst winter for auk wrecks whilst I’ve been here), we’ll have to wait and see what impact that may have on the breeding season, following the disastrous year for that species in 2013.

Tysties are around in good numbers now, with most in breeding plumage (although with a sleety storm just starting and the surface of the sea being blown in the air, this one looks like breeding is the last thing on its mind). On of the first species to be surveyed, we should conduct our first count in about two weeks; a reminder that the new season is almost upon us.