Change of scenery

They say a change is as good as a rest so with Easterly winds yesterday it was an early start for me and Stan this morning at Andy's place on South Ronaldsay to see what migrants might be about. The habitat here is a mixture of coniferous and decidous trees and Rosa Rogosa hedges making a pleasant change from the reed bed.

It was a bright Autumn morning with a North Easterly wind and occassional cloud just taking the heat off of the early morning sun.

In the space of about two and a half hours we caught 14 birds of 8 species as follows, retraps in []:

      Blackbird                    2
      Chaffinch                    1
      Garden Warbler               1
      Goldcrest                    2 [1]
      Great Spotted Woodpecker     1
      Reed Warbler                 1
      Robin                       [1]
      Wren                         3 [1]

The Chaffinch, Garden Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Reed Warbler were all new ringing species for Stan and the woodpecker was a ringing first for the site.

There have been a number of Great Spotted Woodpeckers seen around Orkney over the last couple of weeks but this is the first one, I think, that has been seen in South Ronaldsay.

No sign of any Yellow Browed Warblers another species which seems to be in good numbers across Orkney at the moment.