The Birds of Fair Isle
Our new, two-volume island avifauna – The Birds of Fair Isle – by Ian Andrews, Roger Riddington, Paul Harvey, Will Miles and Rebecca Nason is now available to purchase. Full details can be found here.
Latest sightings
22nd to 30th July 2026
A busy week dominated by the island wedding of Lachlan and Mhairi, with a joyful few days of celebration surrounding the ceremony on 25th. Work for the Ornithology team meanwhile has been centred around Bonxie chick ringing, Puffin colour ringing and nocturnal Storm Petrel sessions, with the latter resulting in some busy nights of catching. It appears that our Bonxies are having a relatively poor year, with a high level of chick cannibalism at a late stage noted by the team as they cover the breeding areas during chick ringing, though this will be confirmed by counts of fledglings in the coming days. Checks of the tern colonies at South Light and Buness have also shown productivity to be poor this year, with just a single chick fledged across both sites, though the reasons for this failure are unclear. Puffin colour ringing has been productive, with 39 birds now fitted with their unique Darvic rings as part of the revamped adult survival monitoring. Breaks in the breeze have allowed Storm Petrel ringing to be carried out on two evenings, with 231 and 266 birds caught respectively, as well as single Leach’s Petrels ringed on each night.
The team busy at the ringing table with Storm Petrels (Alex Penn)
One of the two Leach’s Petrel ringed in recent nights (Alex Penn)
There has unsurprisingly been little change on the migrants front, though the first signs of some autumn passerine movement were evident this week with a juvenile Willow Warbler present on 27th, and three juvenile Sedge Warbler on 28th. Greylag Goose passage continues, with birds wandering south from Shetland through the week, including the bizarre sight of a flock of 114 birds on the beach at Easter Lother on 22nd. Numbers of waders remain low but some light passage has been noted, as well as the confirmation of a second pair of successfully breeding Dunlin, with a pair seen with two just-fledged young at Suka Mire on 28th.
The sole tern chick to have fledged this year (Alex Penn)
Rock Pipit will happily clean up any dropped fish from around the Puffin burrows to supplement their usual insect prey (Alex Penn)
HIGHLIGHTS
WESTERN SUBALPINE WARBLER: male still at the Obs on 28th
Leach’s Petrel: singles trapped on nights of 22nd and 29th
Sightings of note (high counts): 120 Greylag Goose, 3 Collared Dove, 2 Lapwing, 2 Whimbrel, 11 Turnstone, 1 Knot, 1 Sanderling, 7 Dunlin, 3 Purple Sandpiper, 22 Redshank, 19 Black-headed Gull, 35 Common Gull, 266 Storm Petrel, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Carrion Crow, 3 hybrid Crow, 2 Sand Martin, 3 Swallow, 1 Willow Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff, 3 Sedge Warbler, 1 Black Redstart, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Brambling
Other wildlife: 1 Painted Lady, 1 Hummingbird Hawkmoth (29th)
Year list: 172
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17th to 21st July 2026
A typically quiet few days as seabird jobs slowly begin to wind down and migration is all but at a standstill. The final cruise ship of the year brought visitors to the isle on 18th, and the first Storm Petrel ringing session was carried out on the evening of 19th. Despite being a short session thanks to some damp fog hampering catching, it is always a pleasure to get re-acquainted with these fabulous little seabirds. Puffin colour-ringing continues, and the first Bonxie chicks of the year had their colour rings fitted, a job that will take up much of the team’s time over the next week or two.
This brood of Bonxies were the first nest to have been found hatched this year, with the two chicks now almost fledged (Alex Penn)
A modest catch of 22 Storm Petrel to kick off the season (Maebh Howell)
HIGHLIGHTS
Quail: singles on 19th and 20th
Sightings of note (high counts): 5 Greylag Goose, 2 Teal, 2 Collared Dove, 86 Oystercatcher, 17 Lapwing, 2 Golden Plover, 1 Whimbrel, 16 Curlew, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 25 Turnstone, 1 Sanderling, 5 Dunlin, 23 Purple Sandpiper, 28 Redshank, 4 Black-headed Gull, 26 Common Gull, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 22 Storm Petrel, 1 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Carrion Crow, 3 Sand Martin, 2 Swallow, 7 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap, 1 Blackbird, 1 Robin, 3 Grey Wagtail, 1 Brambling
Other wildlife: 1 Red Admiral, 3 Painted Lady, 1 Shetland Bee
Year list: 171
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3rd to 16th July 2026
A busy period of work for the Obs team, dominated by seabird monitoring as a prolonged spell of settled weather allowed for productive days. The full-day feedwatches for Guillemot and Puffin were carried out, with results for the latter looking considerably more favourable, as well as the Puffin food sampling on Tor o’ da Ward Hill (where the team had an added bonus in the form of a Long-tailed Skua lingering offshore with two Arctic Skua). Further efforts to retrieve GLS tags from our breeding Guillemots were largely unsuccessful, with just one tag retrieved and only one further tagged individual seen – a reflection of the low percentage of birds breeding this year. The time out in the boat allowed for a good amount of seabird ringing along the way however, with Shags in particular having a successful year and a good number of chicks now fitted with Darvic rings. Repeat visits to Greenholm for Puffin productivity monitoring have also revealed that that these birds are having a reasonably successful season – good news after their significant winter wreck.
A newly-hatched Puffin during checks of the productivity plot (Alex Penn)
Several breeding adult Puffin at Buness have now been fitted with colour rings, re-establishing an adult survival study (Alex Penn)
In a busy period for Puffin work, the annual food sampling was also carried out, with birds coming in with good-sized feeds this year (Alex Penn)
Away from the seabird work there has been little time for much birding, though checks of the crofts and beaches in spare moments have generally revealed little change, as expected in this settled part of the summer. A brief Rosefinch at Shirva on 13th was the only new scarcity seen, with two Sandwich Tern through South Harbour on 12th rarer in an isle context, and a Black Redstart at the Obs on 16th an unusual July record. There has been some evidence of return wader movement, with moulting adult birds noted passing through on their journeys southwards already. Flocks of Redshank, Curlew and Lapwing in particular are gradually building, and scarcer species dropping in have included both Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank and Common Sandpiper.
Dunlin have bred on the isle for the third year in succession, with this chick ringed on 8th (Alex Penn)
HIGHLIGHTS
WESTERN SUBALPINE WARBLER: male lingering at the Obs throughout
Quail: up to three present
Long-tailed Skua: adult seen over the sea from Tor o’ da Ward Hill on 15th
Red-backed Shrike: female still to 4th
Melodious Warbler: one reappeared at Burkle on 6th
Common Rosefinch: one at Shirva on 13th
Serin: one still to 6th
Sightings of note (high counts): 14 Greylag Goose, 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 11 Swift, 2 Collared Dove, 1 Moorhen, 90 Oystercatcher, 19 Lapwing, 4 Golden Plover, 5 Whimbrel, 17 Curlew, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 7 Turnstone, 2 Sanderling, 7 Dunlin, 6 Purple Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 23 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 24 Black-headed Gull, 8 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 2 Sandwich Tern, 3 Red-throated Diver, 8 Storm Petrel, 2 Manx Shearwater, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 1 Carrion Crow, 2 Sand Martin, 3 Swallow, 1 House Martin, 9 Chiffchaff, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 1 Blackbird, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Robin, 1 Black Redstart, 4 Grey Wagtail, 1 Brambling, 1 Siskin
Other wildlife: 1 Red Admiral, 9 Painted Lady, 2 Silver Y, 1 Hummingbird Hawkmoth, 4 Magpie Moth, 5 Shetland Bee, 1 Minke Whale, 3 Harbour Porpoise
Year list: 171
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