Last nights Storm Petrel ringing session ended with a total catch of 263 Storm Petrels ringed and 18 retraps, including a Portuguese-ringed control. The highlight of the night, however, was a Leach’s Petrel, shown with a European Storm Petrel for comparison! 📸 A Penn

Left my GoPro in with the Puffins while I went and did a Shorewatch yesterday and this was the result! Such curious little birds! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Little Tystie takes on a big Butterfish!! Didn’t get to see if it won the battle as we were on our way to take a look on board the Flying Dutchman, a rather impressive tall ship that had just arrived in the harbour!

Hulk and Nott paid us a visit on Fair Isle this morning, with a swim by the obs! Our second orca sighting in the past 9 days! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Orca!!! When one of the pier workmen casually mentioned there was an orca in the harbour, none of us quite believed him at first, but sure enough there they were! They attracted quite a crowd as they made their way around Buness. My first orca and they did not disappoint!!

There was a great atmosphere last week when all the islanders, guests and staff were invited to toast the newly opened Obs. Douglas Barr, Roy Dennis and Eileen Thomson spoke of the importance of the Obs to the birding and island communities. We all raised a glass to the new Obs!

Two rather nice birds ringed at the obs yesterday afternoon! First, the Great Reed Warbler from the previous day went into the obs garden nets, closely followed by a Greenish Warbler caught in Gully. Both very cool birds to see up close, the Great Reed Warbler is huge! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

This Great Reed Warbler was found in the obs garden this afternoon, and though it has shown itself only a couple of times since, it’s given some very nice views out of the bar windows for several observers! A nice bird, and so much bigger than I thought they’d be! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Just as I thought today couldn’t get much better with Blyth’s Reed Warbler and Nightjar trapped and ringed, @alex-penn.bsky.social catches this absolute showstopper of a Scops Owl in Gully! What a bird!! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Fair Isle saw its third PALLAS'S REED BUNTING, yesterday - a spring male, no less - following two autumn birds, the last some 43 years ago! www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk/latest_sight... Please note - no sightings so far today, although the bird can be slippery, and today's weather wild! 📸A Penn

I was very pleased to get to ring this gorgeous male Bluethroat the other day!! I didn’t know what I’d been handed until I pulled him out the bag, as you can probably imagine the resulting smile when I realised what I had was pretty big! What a stunner, I can’t get over how blue that throat is!

The past couple of days have bought in some good birds, and some very nice catches in the mist nets. I was very pleased to ring a lovely female Western Subalpine Warbler yesterday afternoon! Other highlights were a trio of Crossbill and my first bluethroat in the hand! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Had a bit of fun photographing these swallows out of the @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social bar windows this afternoon as they perched on the fence and the patio between bouts of swooping around and investigating the building! They looked a little grumpy in the wind and the rain.

This gorgeous male Rustic Bunting found at Upper Stoneybrake this afternoon brightened up what has been a rather quiet few days here at @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social It spent a lot of time zipping around the area but settled in a ditch long enough to give everyone present some nice views!

This gorgeous Red-throated Pipit found by @alex-penn.bsky.social this morning showed very well this afternoon! After a failed attempt to relocate it late morning, it was a relief to stumble across it within a few minutes on attempt number two! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

What better way to spend a sunny Tuesday afternoon than ringing these little bundles of joy?! You don’t get much cuter than a Lapwing chick! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

It is now six years since a fire totally destroyed the Observatory and we are delighted to announce that the Observatory and Hotel is now open for guest bookings for 2025! Please read our website for prices and terms: www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk/accommodatio... We look forward to welcoming you soon!

A bee-eater added a splash of colour to this afternoon at @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social, moving between fences in the south of the island and putting on a show for several observers! Seeing it occasionally hovering over the grass was also insanely cool to watch!

Some pretty perfect timing after rockpooling with the school kids yesterday afternoon meant I was able to have a look at this little beauty before it was released back into the Birkle garden. Western Subalpine Warbler, what a stunning little bird! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Yesterday bought some good birds in, including two new birds for me, wood warbler and bluethroat, and a lovely female hawfinch I had the pleasure of ringing! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Nice to finally get a piece of the eastern subalpine warbler action at @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social with this stunning male found at Schoolton today!

Thoroughly enjoyed seeing my first white-tailed eagle earlier today! Arriving at the south of the island moments too late as it disappeared out to sea I wasn’t optimistic, but luckily it decided to return and do some laps of the island giving me some excellent views as it passed close by!

Advance notification of when the Observatory and Hotel will be open for bookings is now on our website www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk

Nothing says spring like a lamb in some daffodils!

Had this flick out in front of me while on census this morning and immediately had the feeling it was something out of the ordinary. Some panicked shots that I quickly sent to @alex-penn.bsky.social confirmed my suspicions that it was something different, a short-toed lark!

It’s been great to see the puffins back on the cliffs this past week, especially since it’s my first time seeing them so close up! I’ve also loved seeing so many people heading up to Buness to enjoy them, islanders and workmen alike. It’s hard not to love them! @fairislebirdobs.bsky.social

Tricky to summarise my first 10 days on Fair Isle in just 4 photos, but it’s been an amazing start to the season! We’ve been lucky to have some gorgeous weather too so I’ve really been introduced to the island at its best! It’s such a stunning place, excited to see what the rest of the year brings!

My first time ringing stonechats and I was lucky enough to process this bird! A pretty good day all round, and a great result for my last Norfolk ringing session for a while before I head up north!

Monitoring NW Norfolk farm today, despite 150 birds being present in winter bird crop/seed, we only manged 12 birds of which 8 were Reed Buntings, all colour ringed @fwageast.bsky.social

Monitoring North Norfolk farm today, only 13 birds before the wind effected the day, which though included 9 Yellowhammers @btobirds.bsky.social @fwageast.bsky.social

Grey seals at Winterton-on-Sea last week! Still quite a lot around for how late in the season it is, including many up in the dunes! Also saw one of the last 8 suckling pups (the whitecoat pictured looking very mischievous!) who was fun to watch as it did the best it could to annoy its mother 🦭

Finally went through some water vole photos from a visit to Minsmere back in October so thought I’d share a few here! I love how these 4 almost tell a little story, it’s little face in the third one when it has nothing to munch on 🥺

I’ve had an amazing week interning with the Countryside Education Trust in the New Forest looking at the conservation of terns on the Beaulieu estate. Part of the job was repainting 36 tern decoys to look like common, sandwich and roseate terns and we were pretty pleased with how they turned out!

A very chilly morning ringing yesterday but worth it for some of these beauties! My first time ringing fieldfare and we had a good few blackbirds and redwings too! A near constant background noise of pink-footed geese flying over was also pretty enjoyable!

Had a fab day out swan ringing around the Norfolk broads yesterday, my first time ringing swans. We caught 26 total, plus 20 colour rings resighted, and I was also lucky enough to ring my first mallard! I learnt so much and it was great to have such a good team supporting and helping one another! 🦢🦆

I’ve enjoyed getting out ringing more again these past couple of weeks while it’s been calm and dry, hopefully we’ll have a few more good chances in between the oncoming wetter weather! My first redwings in a while were a treat last week, one of my favourite species in the hand.

Closest into shore I’ve ever seen dolphins this afternoon off Pendennis Point! Common dolphins everywhere in the bay. Plenty of bird life and diving gannets about too, topped off by my first ring-billed gull found as we were just about to leave! 🐬

Not your typical January bird! My timing for the Gulval golden oriole was impeccable, with it showing itself nicely within 10 minutes of my arrival. It then went on to pop out a few more times giving some excellent views. A bird I’ve wanted to see for a long time! 🪶

Went to see my first Waxwings today in Kings Lynn, a flock of 16. What gorgeous birds they are, and so fun to watch them flying between two trees and picking the fallen berries up from the ground! Rainy conditions but still got a couple of alright shots!