Sanday

Autumn Birding on Sanday

For three consecutive autumns (2011 – 2013) a group of birders have visited the island of Sanday, Orkney. The original decision to visit Sanday was based on several factors – we wanted to do something a little different and have somewhere to ourselves, we’d had unsuccessful trips elsewhere (such as the Outer Hebrides), and, from looking at a map, it looked a shoe-in for good birds in classic east coast fall conditions. Having explored the island we can confirm that it gets its share of eastern goodies, but there’s so much more to it than that. It could be argued that it offers the most complete birding experience in Scotland!

Seabirds

As our trips have usually been quite short, and seawatching hasn’t been a high priority, we haven’t got a particularly glamorous selection of seabirds to report. Brief seawatches have revealed good numbers of sooty shearwaters passing close in to Start Point, and they have also been seen from Laminess and Tofts Ness. Undoubtedly greater effort and at a more productive time of year would be rewarded – North Ronaldsay has a decent track record for rarer seabirds and there’s no reason why concerted effort at Start Point couldn’t produce similar. As well as looking out for sheawaters and petrels there are usually divers available (white-billed must be an option at other times of year), plenty of visible wildfowl passage, and black guillemots. A lack of height might be an issue for some (most of the north of the island is very low lying) but the successful seawatches on North Ronaldsay are near enough from sea level so there is still a chance of some success.

Wildfowl

Whooper swans usually arrive at the end of September and can be found on North and Bea lochs. At this time of year, geese start pouring through as well. The island has a ‘resident’ population of greylags that cause some consternation among the locals, which is augmented by further arrivals of this species from Iceland, along with smaller numbers of pink-footed geese. Among these birds the odd wonderer occurs, with barnacle, white-fronted, cackling, and snow goose all being noted. It’s worth noting that there are free flying resident white phase snow geese breeding on Orkney – which would make claims of this form a little more dubious, but a blue phase bird in with arriving pinkies and greylags (such as our bird from Sept 2012) would have much better credentials.

There are large numbers of ducks on Sanday, which must harbour rarities. Our visits of course are timed to coincide with the time when male birds would be in eclipse, making picking out many species a lot more difficult – and as such our list of ducks isn’t perhaps what it could be. An American widgeon was well picked out in 2013, and a smew in the same year was a great record for the northern isles – we undoubtedly miss out on species such as green-winged teal though. That said, the large flocks of teal and wigeon on the Bea loch, North Loch and near Whitemill Point are always worth a look and the better lochs usually hold good numbers of Pintail (up to 70 on North loch in 2011) and the odd scaup is not out of the question. Sanday has some previous with rare ducks, recording Scotlands first Canvasback (on loch of Rummie, near North Loch), which was found while the observers were watching a white-winged black tern!

Raptors

A typical week in late September/early October sees multiple records of hen harrier (we’ve estimated at least 4 on the island on some occasions) with fewer, but still regular peregrine and merlin. Kestrel are seen anywhere, as are sparrowhawks (with Stove being particularly good), and there is a single record of common buzzard from 2013. Also present in 2013 was a massive falcon that gave very poor views on a few occasions. We had been hoping that it would turn out to be a Gyr but on balance, it was more likely to be a falconers hybrid that has been widely reported around Orkney recently. It was a very impressive beast whatever it was.

Waders

Sanday is brilliant for waders. Among the commoner species, typical numbers present in late September would be along the lines of the following:

• 3000 golden plover
• 150 grey plover (great for the northern isles)
• 600+ Dunlin
• 1000+ sanderling
• 1000 bar-tailed godwit

All of this along with plenty of curlew, redshank, ringed plover etc. There were also exceptional numbers of snipe present in 2013, with an estimate of perhaps 10,000 on the island not at all unrealistic. With all these birds and the great array of habitats available, it’s inevitable that some rarer species turn up. There have been multiple records of American golden plover in the last two years, and at least 3 buff-breasted sandpiper have been recorded. Pectoral sandpipers are annual, with probably 5 birds in 2012 – and possibly even more than that. Ruff and Curlew sandpipers are recorded every year, and there are also records of little stint, greenshank, jack snipe, and some late whimbrel. The rare peeps still elude us – but that’s a good reason to keep going back.

Gulls and terns

There don’t seem to be any particularly large gatherings of gulls on Sanday – fields around the larger lochs sometimes hold roosts but these have yet to turn up any major birds. 2013 was a bumper year for gulls though with our first island Iceland gull being eclipsed by a cracking adult Laughing gull that remained for most of the autumn, on and off.

Passerines

There aren’t that many resident passerines on Sanday, but even at times when there is no apparent movement of birds, there should be plenty of wheatear, meadow pipit, linnet and a few twite on the go. Ravens are common (up to 60 can be seen together in some places) as are hooded crow, and starlings are everywhere. Migrant passerines of course, can and do turn up everywhere. Over the three years we’ve had multiple red-backed shrikes, barred warblers, wryneck, common rosefinch and YBW, along with singles of RBfly, bluethroat, icterine warbler, woodlark (an excellent Scottish record – as many records as whites thrush!) little bunting, Richard’s pipit, and Blyth’s reed warbler. Not too bad really, especially considering the fact that we’ve headed home before the bulk of the big arrivals on Shetland every year.

Snow bunting can occur anywhere, but Lapland bunting favour the eastern end of the island.

2011

September 17 – 24th. 2011 was a quiet one really – promising conditions at the beginning of the week delivered little bunting, barred and yellow browed warblers, red backed shrike and wryneck. Through the rest of the stay we picked up a few more yellow browed and then the week ended well with common rosefinch and Richards pipit.

2012

September 15 – 22nd. Strong westerlies dominated early in the week resulting in 2 American golden plover, buff breasted sandpiper, and multiple pectoral sandpiper. A large arrival of geese saw a blue phase snow goose arrive with them. Calm conditions late in the week delivered a red backed shrike, and a blyth’s reed warbler, and then the day after, 19 YBW, 3+ barred warbler, 2 common rosefinch, a bluethroat, and what would probably have turned into a marsh warbler if we hadn’t had to leave it to get our ferry.

2013

Weather patterns were similar to last year with a similar arrival of waders – 2 American golden plover, a buff-breast, and a pec. 3 cackling geese arrived with the large goose arrival, but the laughing gull certainly topped the tree though in terms of birds from the west. As conditions dropped, things began to filter through from the east, including several YBW (6 was the highest day count, but there were undoubtedly more) barred warbler, red-backed shrike, and icterine warbler. One member of the team stayed on for a few weeks after us and picked up woodlark, American wigeon, red-breasted flycatcher and a second buff-breasted sand.

Some more interesting sites.

This is by no means comprehensive – a visitor to Sanday would do well just to head out with the bins and keep going, but there are afew places we tend to gravitate towards so they’re probably worth mentioning.

Stove

In the far south of the island near the ferry terminal – a collection of bushes and ruined buildings act as a magnet for migrants. Also, overlooks a large tidal area that is well worth checking for waders.

Lamminess

A cracking little seaweedy bay, and area of crops.

The Wart

A hill with a handy looking garden at the top. Merits a mention as the ploughed fields around it hosted the Laughing gull…

Bae Loch

The best site for wildfowl. View from the field on the east side – birds tend to congregate in the southern corner. Also the fields alongside have held very useful golden plover flocks too.

Little sea

An excellent site for waders that can give great views from the car.

Cemetary

The cemetery and gardens at the east end of the littloe sea can be good for migrants.

Airfield

Sometimes holds roosting waders

The school

A very thick bit of cover that undoubtedly hides numerous migrants.

Over the Water

A marshy area between the school and the little sea – good for snipes!

Lady

The main village – gardens around here can be productive. The best shop is here too and it’s a great central location to explore the island from

Cata sand

Excellent for waders – high tide roosts accessible from Lady. The Overbister side is great for golden plover flocks

Tres ness

A bit of a hike from lady, but it looks mega out there…

Colliness

Another good wader area.

Quivals

Pool and lagoon can give good views of waders

Burness road

Fields, gardens, and hedgerows here can be productive.

Roos

The loch can be good for wildfowl and waders when water levels are lower. The cover at Roos farm looks excellent but has so far failed to deliver, and the beach can hold large numbers of waders feeding on seaweed.

Roos Marsh

Excellent spot for waders, ducks and geese.

Whitemill bay area

The beach can be good for waders, and the roadside fields good for geese and wader flocks. To the west of the road (but not visible from it) are wet areas that hold lots of wildfowl.

Westayre loch

Difficult access and hard to view but undoubtedly gets birds.

Lettan/Salties

The road along the east side of North loch. Fields great for golden plover flocks, gardens great for migrants.

North Loch

Great for wildfowl, waders at the north end.

Tofts Ness

Looks mega rare – good for waders.

Lop Ness

Good fields, gardens, nooks and crannies for migrants and wader flocks.

Start Point

Accessible at low tide, must be good for migrants in the best conditions, plus the loch there looks good for wildfowl and waders.