Sanday Autumn

For nine consecutive autumns (2011 – 2019) a group of five or six birders have visited the island of Sanday, north eastern Orkney, during a period covering mid September to early October. This article aims to give a flavour of our experience to date.

The original decision to visit Sanday was based on several factors – we were keen to do something a little different and have somewhere to ourselves. Crucially, looking at its geographic position, Sanday looked very well placed for good birds in east coast fall conditions. Having now explored the island for five consecutive autumns we can confirm that it gets its share of eastern migrants, but there’s plenty more to it than that. To be clear, we are not making any claims that Sanday is the next Barra – while it gets rarities, it cannot compete with the likes of Fair Isle, or its neighbour North Ronaldsay. It could however be argued that it offers one of the most complete autumn birding experiences in Scotland, with a wide variety of waders, wildfowl, raptors and passerines available during September and October. The diversity of habitats means that even during ‘slow’ weeks we are recording upwards of 120 species. Over the course of our five autumn visits we have recorded 177 species.

General birding

Sanday is a big island (about 20km in length) and the distances between the better sites, shops, and accommodation make a car essential (although you could do it by bike if you were feeling intrepid). Despite recommending a car, a lot of legwork is also essential for birding Sanday. Many of the best sites are distant from roads, and, just as importantly, the whole island has turned up interesting birds, many of which might have been missed if had we not been walking between more obvious areas of water or cover. We conservatively estimate that each of us covers over 120 km during a week on Sanday, splitting up each day to try and maximise coverage.

We base ourselves in Lady, roughly in the middle of the island, for several reasons. It’s well located for accessing the rest of the island, and has some excellent birding spots nearby. It also has an excellent shop, and until recently, was the home of the Sanday ranger, who has been very helpful indeed over the years. The only pubs on the island are several miles away in Kettletoft , so perhaps staying in Lady facilitates an earlier start most mornings, too! Another dubious benefit of being based there is that we can call ourselves the Ladyboys!

In general land access has been straightforward. Most people have been extremely accommodating in terms of accessing gardens, and a knock on the door and a friendly chat is usually all it takes. That said, a respectful and common sense approach is always taken when considering access anywhere, and the cover around the school is avoided during classroom hours.

Wildfowl

Wildfowl are a very prominent feature of the Sanday avifauna, and have received a good deal of attention from us.

Whooper swans usually arrive at the end of September and can be found on the larger lochs, especially North and Bea lochs. At this time of year, geese start pouring through as well. The island has an increasing resident population of greylags which is augmented by further arrivals from Iceland, along with a sometimes heavy passage of pink-footed geese. Among these birds the odd wanderer occurs, with barnacle regular, and white-fronted, cackling, and snow goose all being found. It’s worth remembering 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 arriving with pinkies and greylags (such as our bird from Sept 2012) would have much better credentials.

During our autumn visits we would expect to encounter over 1000 wigeon and several hundred mallard. Teal must also be present in the high hundreds, but as they are spread around all over the island, coming up with a representative total for them has proved very difficult. Pintail are also well represented, with over 100 present in some years.

Such large numbers of ducks must make the island attractive to rarer species too. Our visits unfortunately coincide with a period when males birds are still in eclipse, making identifying many species a lot more difficult, and as such our list of ducks isn’t perhaps what it could be. An American wigeon was well picked out in 2013 with another, or perhaps the same bird returning in 2014. A smew in 2013 was a great record for the northern isles – but we could easily be overlooking species such as green-winged teal. Sanday has previous with rare ducks, recording Scotland's first Canvasback (on Loch of Rhummie, near North Loch), which was found while the observers were watching a white-winged black tern!

The best places for viewing wildfowl are the larger lochs. North Loch has the best track record for attracting the largest numbers (and has held both American wigeons) but in some years, other lochs have been favoured. Bea Loch, Roos Loch, and the loch on Start Point are all well worth checking. North Loch can be viewed from the road that runs along its east side, with slightly better viewing from the buildings on the east and west sides at the southern end of the loch – note that these may not be accessible, depending on access to fields. Bea loch is best viewed from the east side, just south of Castlehill, and Roos Loch can be viewed best from the car along either of the roads that flank it.

Seabirds

Seawatching hasn’t generally been a high priority on our trips, resulting in a relatively small amount of effort to date. Brief seawatches in 2014 revealed good numbers of sooty shearwaters passing close in to Start Point, and they have also been seen from other locations. A little more effort in 2015 from the east end revealed another strong passage of sooty shearwaters (86 birds in two hours) as well as a lone Balearic shearwater. More ad hoc seawatching in 2015 from south facing viewpoints produced grey phalarope and pomarine skuas.

Greater effort and at a more productive time of year would undoubtedly be rewarded – North Ronaldsay has a decent track record for rarer seabirds and there’s no reason why concerted effort at the east end couldn’t produce similar. As well as looking out for shearwaters and petrels there are usually divers available (white-billed must be an option at the right times of year), plenty of visible wildfowl passage, and black guillemots.

Start point, at the east end of Sanday offers the best position for seawatching. However, crossing over to Start Point is only possible at low tide. Seawatching at the tip of the ‘mainland’ can also produce results without the worry of getting cut off. As with all east coast seawatching, early mornings appear to be the most fruitful times, but with the complication of the rising sun.

Raptors

A typical week in late September/early October sees multiple records of hen harrier with fewer, but still regular peregrine and merlin. Kestrels can seen anywhere, as can sparrowhawks and there have been a few records of common buzzard from 2013 onward. Two of these have been wing-tagged birds that have made short movements from mainland Orkney. Rare raptors must be a possibility (look at North Ronaldsay’s northern harrier and calidus type peregrine, in recent years).

Waders

Sanday is impressive for the abundance of common waders. Typical numbers present in late September/early October would be approximately:

3000 golden plover
100 grey plover (a good total for the northern isles)
600+ Dunlin
1000+ sanderling
1000 bar-tailed godwit

All of these birds are present along with unknowable numbers of lapwing, curlew, redshank, ringed plover etc. There were also exceptional numbers of snipe present in 2013, with a conservative estimate of 10,000 on the island. With all these birds and the great array of habitats available, it’s inevitable that some rarer species turn up. A dowitcher spp seen briefly by one of our group in 2015 was almost certainly a long-billed, but unfortunately evaded attempts to relocate it and clinch the ID. We have had multiple records of American golden plover in three years, and at least 4 buff-breasted sandpiper have been recorded. Pectoral sandpiper are almost annual, with probably 5 birds in 2012 – and possibly even more than that. Ruff, greenshank, curlew sandpiper and whimbrel are recorded most years, and we have also seen little stint, wood sandpiper and jack snipe. The rare peeps still elude us – but that’s a good reason to keep going back.

For sheer number of waders, The Cata Sand and Little Sea are the best places to watch, although the large intertidal area at Stove probably deserves more coverage than we’ve given it. Golden plover flocks have proved most productive in terms of rarities. They can be difficult to pin down, but fields south of Whitemill Bay, around North Loch, between Overbister and the Little Sea, and around Bea Loch are worth checking.

Gulls and terns

There are few areas that regularly hold large gatherings of gulls on Sanday – fields around the larger lochs sometimes hold roosts but these have yet to turn up any major birds. Recently cut stubble fields are also worth checking. 2013 was a bumper year for gulls though with our first Iceland gull being eclipsed by a cracking adult Laughing gull that remained on the island for most of our stay, and 2015 yielded two different Glaucous gulls. Terns are generally uncommon due to the timing of our trips, but we generally encounter small numbers of Sandwich and ‘commic’ terns most years.

Passerines

There aren’t many resident passerine species on Sanday, but even at times when there is no apparent movement of birds, there are usually plenty of wheatear, meadow pipit, linnet and a few twite to be seen. Starlings are everywhere, as are hooded crow and ravens are common (up to 60 can be seen together in some places, and a huge count of over 130 birds was recorded on a spring visit), Snow bunting can occur anywhere, but Lapland bunting favour the eastern end of the island.

Classic drift migrant passerines can and do turn up anywhere. Over the five years we’ve had multiple red-backed shrike, barred warbler, bluethroat, common rosefinch, little bunting, Richard’s pipit, greenish warbler, Blyth’s reed warbler and of course yellow-browed warblers, along with singles of wryneck, red-breasted flycatcher, icterine warbler, woodlark (an excellent Scottish record – as rare as White’s thrush!) olive-backed pipit and best of all, a brown shrike in 2016. Not too bad considering we’ve had predominantly south westerly winds in each of our trips, however, we were extremely fortunate to record a Swainson’s thrush in 2015.

‘Classic’ conditions for falls have been few and far between, but on two occasions, favourable conditions have produced falls of passerine migrants and these have been amongst the most enjoyable days we have had on Sanday. The 86 yellow-browed warblers in a single day in 2016 was especially memorable, and this demonstrated that birds can be found all over the island in these conditions, not just at the east end. Likewise, three of us finding little bunting, greenish warbler and Blyth’s reed warbler in an hours birding on the last day of the 2016 was just as much fun.

Along with the aforementioned woodlark, we have done well for other species that are hard to get on the northern isles. Yellowhammer, yellow wagtail, blue tit, wood warbler, grasshopper warbler and great spotted woodpecker all fit into this category.

It should though be mentioned that some groups of passerines are likely to be hard to find or relocate on Sanday. The size of the island and the sheer amount of open habitat perhaps explains our poor return for groups such as scarce/rare pipits or short-toed lark, the latter of which we are yet to find. Unlike some of the other Northern Isles, which are covered in large areas of moorland and bog, there are few areas of Sanday that are inhospitable to birds, with much of the island comprising improved or semi-improved farmland. The patches of cover are often quite dense, especially in some of the gardens. There are also some dauntingly large iris beds which we have so far not made much attempt to work, as well as numerous ditches. So while turning up a Northern Isles speciality such as a rare Locustella warbler is a dream, this is perhaps not what Sanday is best suited to.

Sanday is a flat island and, when you see the bulk of Fair Isle on the horizon, and the height of Stronsay to the south you wonder whether this may work against it to some degree in attracting migrants. Our experience to date, and that of North Ronaldsay, suggests it isn’t a major issue.

Tactics

It’s possible to overthink where to go or how to bird somewhere like Sanday, but it’s worth noting a few things.

Walking is essential. So many of our better finds have come while ‘in transit’ between one perceived hotspot and another – and of course the more you’re outside, the more you’ll see or hear. As said before, a car is essential for birding Sanday, but there are lots of long walks and loops that can maximise your time outside.

Spread out. We seldom bird anywhere on Sanday with anyone else, unless we’re twitching something. So far we’ve always managed to get everyone on to every bird they’ve tried to see, so there’s no need to be too concerned about missing out (although we’re resigned to the fact that this will happen one day…). So, spread out and cover the ground. That said, there’s room at the east end of the island to keep 3 or 4 birders busy for a morning – and with the afternoon often seeing new arrivals, the same areas could be covered again later in the day. We’ve discussed cutting the island in half and only dealing with the better, eastern half, but that would mean neglecting favourite sites such as Stove.

Don’t focus on the gardens too much. Obviously gardens attract and retain birds and shouldn’t be ignored, but migrants make their ways into stone walls, weedy fields, ditches, ruined bunkers – or anywhere else, for that matter. On the first day of our first trip, after some really promising conditions, we drove around the east end from garden to garden, all together. We saw a few nice bits and bobs (little bunting, wryneck, RBShrike), but I hate to think about what we might have missed….

Shelter. Insectivorous birds benefit from a bit of shelter, and are happy to compromise on ‘habitat quality’ for some time out of the wind. In strong westerlies, work the east beaches and vice versa.

Summary

Sanday provides a great all round autumn birding experience with the numbers and diversity of waders and wildfowl complementing its ability to turn-up interesting migrant passerines, and other rarities. The island is large, meaning a car is essential, but even then reasonable coverage can only be achieved by a group of birders splitting up and walking long distances each day. This means that it is unlikely that Sanday will ever rival smaller Northern Isles in terms of number of rarities, but for us this does not detract from the enjoyable birding experience it offers. Every trip has been different which is reflected in what we consider to be an impressive list of species given that each trip has been at a similar time of year. One of the great things about returning to Sanday is that we have really got to know the island and where the best areas are. Therefore, as soon as we get off the boat, we now know where to look to get an idea of whether there is much around. In 2015, in our first 40 minutes on the island, we collectively saw American golden plover, an unstreaked Acrocephalus which unfortunately got away, yellow-browed warbler and lesser whitethroat. It's a real joy to know somewhere like Sanday so well. We hope to continue our trips and also see what the mid to late October period brings. With Shetland seemingly receiving ever-increasing numbers of autumn rarity-hunters, other parts of Orkney surely offer similar opportunities to Sanday for those who want to avoid the crowds and are prepared to put in the hard graft to find birds. Aside from North Ronaldsay with its superb track record, there are some good recent finds on Westray, Papa Westray is a neat, workable size, and islands such as Stronsay are well placed to receive quality birds. With 20 inhabited islands and 50 more islands and skerries to choose from, there is much scope for exploring Orkney as an autumn birding destination.

Here's an extract from a trip report, reflecting on a particularly good day - October 8th 2016

So, the last day dawns bright and clear, and we said cheerio to three of the gang - we three headed eastward while they went west and prayed that they don't hear anything from us on the Whatsapp group. To get the news of another biggie while they were on the ferry would have been awful!

I found myself doing the North loch loop again, and started at the garden at Salties, which had a handful of goldcrest and a yellow-browed warbler. For a change of tack I then headed out towards the dunes where there are quite sheltered stands of ragwort and willowherb. There were plenty of redwing there, and several Lapland buntingscould be heard over the fields in amongst the skylarks and meadow pipits. It was pretty tough going though, wading through marram grass on an uneven and invisible surface, to I took the opportunity to walk back to the rather impenetrable garden at Nortwa along a decent track.

Here, a few goldcrests called, and a phylloscopus warbler flitted ahead of me. The phyllosc did the decent thing and popped out of the cover, revealing a neat, narrow wingbar with none of the other jazziness of a yellow-brow. A quick check of the bill structure, PP, leg colour, and broadness of the supercilium, and I was delighted to see that it was a greenish warbler! I alerted the rest of the guys and managed a few record shots of it as it slunk back into the cover. One of the others was interested in seeing the bird so I headed round to the other side of the garden to relocate it, bumping into a showy and rather spectacular looking common redpoll in the process, as well as a couple of yellow-browed warblers, a chiffchaff, and a blackcap.

Five minutes had passed and although I could see the guy who was supposed to be heading over for the greenish, he wasn't making any headway towards me. I phoned him up and it transpired that on his way over he'd flushed a small, browny warbler from the edge on an iris bed and was trying to get better views of it (he had sent a message but it hadn't got through). I rushed the two or three hundred yards to where he was and slowly we went into the irises. The first view was inconclusive, but on seeing it again it was clear that it was a relatively cold toned acrocephalus warbler. We were keen not to push the bird around too much, and managed to get a selection of photos of the bird in flight (and the other guy got some on the ground) that confirmed our suspicions that it was a Blyth's reed warbler. while we were focussing on this a bird seepedoverhead and it can only have been a hawfinch, but unfortunately we didn't see it as we were focussing on the warbler - and a water rail scaprered out of the irises when we got too close to where it hid, unseen.

While all of this was going on, the guy who'd gone down to Start point had picked up a long-eared owl, and then as he arrived at Salties en route to the Blyth's reed, he found a little bunting! What an amazing hour or so we'd had.

Of course it all felt rather tame after that. I headed on around North loch and picked up the usual common migrants along with a couple of chaffinch and good numbers of Lapland buntings in the stubble. We headed back to the house for a bight to eat and to finish cleaning and clearing the house, before checking a few last spots in the south of the island before we jumped on our evening ferry. Stove held a dunnock, several goldcrests and a yellow-browed warbler, and the quarry at Loth hosted a couple of goldcrest. As we waited for the ferry to come in we admired one of these little travelers as it fed just feet away in the warm glow of the evening sun. I wondered about the journey that it, and many of the other birds that we'd seen had made, and felt totally in awe of the sea crossings they manage to achieve. Admiring this common migrant was a fitting end to what had been an excellent week - easily our best yet on Sanday.