After a couple of enjoyable autumn weeks on Sanday, a few of us decided it would be worth giving it a go in spring as well. Two of us made an initial spring visit in April 2014 - much too early for most of the classic May/June drift migrants, but a trip borne of opportunity, and a chance to see what the island could deliver in nicer weather! We struggled to get much to write home about during that short break (snow and Lapland buntings, and common redpoll spring to mind) but we saw an awful lot of potential and resolved to return at a more productive time.

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Our first 'proper' spring trip was in 2015. You can read the trip report here:

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Considering that to be relatively successful (to save you reading the whole thing, we had greenish and icterine warblers, 2 red-backed shrike, red-necked phalarope, pectoral sandpiper, quail and a few other bits and bobs) we tried again in 2016. That trip delivered highlights such as Temminck's stint, nightjar, red-backed shrike and marsh warbler, as well as island ticks such as little tern and Iceland gull, and by now we were hooked on the combination spring scarcities, great looking waders and wildfowl, breeding seabirds, and the general pleasures of walking round a beautiful place on a warm and sunny day. So much so for two of us that we decided to take our sabbaticals on the island during spring the following year.

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Spring 2017 saw two of us on Sanday for a 4 week period (with me staying on for an extra week). I was carrying out a whole island breeding seabird census (which will eventually be collated into 'Seabirds count' effort) and Dave Douglas was studying breeding waders. Of course with all of the time spent doing these surveys we managed to find a few interesting bits and pieces along the way. Over the course of our stay we had green-winged teal, probably breeding garganey, honey buzzard, 2 marsh harrier, 2 quail, 2 dotterel, 2 turtle dove, grey headed wagtail, 4 bluethroat, 3 red-backed shrike, 2 red-breasted flycatcher, Eastern subalpine warbler, along with 'island quality' in the form of black redstart, Iceland gull, wood sandpipers and little stints, reed warbler, black-throated diver, and in intermedius (verging on 'baltic') lesser black-backed gull (ok, that's scraping the barrel a little...) 

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Here's a few photo's from May/June 2017