16th August

What a day. Once again, an excellent variety of common and scarce migrants was recorded, but the highlight was undoubtedly the Booted Warbler found at Westness in the afternoon. It spent much of the time feeding around the very same buildings that had hosted the Greenish Warbler a couple of days earlier, and was eventually trapped and ringed there in the evening. There is only one previous record of the species for the island.

Booted Warbler

The autumn's first Icterine Warbler was at Nether Linnay in the morning, and at least 3 out of the 4 Barred Warblers seen were new in. A new Red-backed Shrike was at Scottigar and, more unexpectedly, a Corncrake was flushed at nearby Vincoin. Also notable were a Grasshopper Warbler and 4 Reed Warblers, while census counts of commoner small migrants included 97 Willow Warblers, 9 Garden Warblers, 7 Lesser Whitethroats, 6 Whinchats, 5 Pied Flycatchers and a Spotted Flycatcher.

A count of 19 Common Sandpipers smashed the existing island record of 11, and 2 Wood Sandpipers, 3 Green Sandpipers, a Greenshank, 20 Ruffs and a Black-tailed Godwit were also noteworthy waders.