An early morning stroll to our Cottascarth hide this morning produced fantastic views of sky-dancing hen harriers. Although early in the season the harriers are setting up territories and pair bonds establishing for the season ahead. This morning there were at least two adult males and three females (ring-tails) viewable from the hide.
A return visit later in the day and the hen harriers were still showing well from the hide. Interestingly, in the hide logbook someone had seen a merlin between my own visits. I was not so lucky with that one. A good excuse for another visit.
It is looking good for the Harrier Sky-dancing event – A joint outing between RSPB Local Group and the Orkney Field Club. A chance to see the spectacular courtship display of the hen harrier. Meet at the Rendall Community Centre at 0930hrs on Sunday 24th April.
My welcoming party at Cottascarth was a pair of wheatears. The male jumped onto the sign and a quick snap was taken for the blog. I must add that the second trip to Cottascarth today was to touch up the paint work of the signs and markers.
Hobbister Reserve Walk
Our first guided walk of the 2011 season saw seven hardy souls brave the cool south-easterly breeze and misty conditions for a couple of hours stomping the reserves’ Scapa Flow trail. Despite the weather the local moorland birdlife put on a show with at least six male red grouse displaying continuously just off the footpath, a male and female hen harrier initially gave us fleeting views but eventually gave themselves up with the female sky-dancing to alert the nearby male of her interest. A few twite were seen and heard overhead. Curlew, lapwing and snipe all displaying well. A distant kestrel was hovering over the Highland Park peat banks early on.
Along the coast the local pair of ravens were “croaking” alarm at the odd great skua flying over. While on the coast two great northern divers, a few black guillemots, razorbill, eider, gannet and of course the many fulmars showing well on the wing and sitting on the cliff ledges.
No sign of the peregrine falcons during the walk, though they are present on the reserve again this year. Also of note is the lack of stonechats The reserve populations seems to have crashed with no sightings at Cottascarth or Hobbister this year. I am not aware of any stonechats being seen on Orkney during 2011 following the prolonged cold snap in December 2010. They are a species that are susceptible to cold weather. However, on the positive side they can bounce back quickly due to their ability to raise three broods in a season. Fingers crossed.