Our puffin chick is still here! The earliest expected fledging date was the 20th, but the little fellow is still here. It is still rather small, but occassionally you can catch a glimpse of its adult feathers. Both parents are still attentive, sometimes sitting with the chick. One seems to like to lie its "chin" on the ground, with the chick almost on top of it. On Saturday around 10am, I saw them return together with beaks full of sandeels and a single bird returned again an hour later. You may notice a change in the burrow, in that we've had to move the camera. We hope you still enjoy watching.
Sumburgh Head seems so quiet today, at least in terms of birds (it is a beautiful, calm sunny day and there are loads of visitors on the reserve). The guillemots have all departed and there's few puffins on the grassy banks. Every now and then the kittiwakes let out a chorus of calls. It's perfect conditions for spotting a whale or dolphin, but no fins have been spotted around the headland.
Mousa too is a quieter than a couple of weeks ago (at least in terms of birds - it is sheep shearing time so there's a lot of bleeting around the jetty). All of the Arctic terns (or tirricks as they are called in Shetland) have failed to breed, but are still here loafing around on the shores of the lagoons. It's really vexing that not one pair have managed to bring out a chick. We believe this is due to the lack of available sandeels. There may well be a knock on effect on the skuas, but we'll have to wait and see. It's great to see so many fledged wheatears though.
Keep on watching at www.rspb.org.uk/shetlandsummer or www.shetland.org
All the best from 60North