Woodpeckers everywhere.

Woodpeckers are very scarce on the island. We've already seen a couple this year but that is nothing compared to what we are seeing at the moment on the island. With few trees on here it shows how adaptable these birds are!

I think the final count was about 12 yesterday. Surely this must be an island record! They were all over the island.  Mostly on their own but up to 4 have been spotted together. They are feeding in either the short grass or picking invertebrates out of the rocks and vegetation. These three were at Cornerstone.

They also are remarkably tame. One in the top garden was destroying the Elder tree at my feet.

These birds were down at Mill Door. 

It is likely these birds originate from Scandinavia. Birds have been trapped at other bird observatories have been of this race. There are subtle differences between our own birds which include bill structure. At least three have been trapped so far so it is likely origin will be established.

Layers of history

It is this time of year that with the vegetation dying back and with no seabirds to distract your eye you can start noticing the structures left by man from the past. And often they are in layers, one built upon another. Recently waiting for a boat at the north end of the island I had a bit of time to look more closely at some of the structures down there.  Above picture is the built up bit of track where the High Road crosses Cable Cleft near to Alterstanes. The visitor doesn't get a good view but there are actually 2 layers of track, one built upon another. My guess is that the first was built at or after the time of the Mainlight was built, i.e.1816. At that time access was required only by horse and cart to Alterstanes to collect deliveries and meet the passengers boats that docked there. However is 1934 the North Horn was built and so better and wider access with less of a gradient was required and the road was built up hence the second layer of track that shows different stone work and less lichen.

Just to the north is the Rona crossing point. Now there is no bridge across the tidal gap but there are the remains of 2 bridges on either side. The lower, earlier bridge was only wide enough to be a foot bridge and maybe dates to Victorian times. Whereas the bigger bridge which has the air line pipe that went to operate the North Horn must have been built later, maybe as a way of getting machinery and equipment across to Rona to do the actual building. The final bridge across this gap was built in the early 1970's and was dismantled as it was dangerous in 2002 . It was called Nybo bridge but as of yet I do not know why. 

Seal pup under the cameras.

Exciting news today when Pilgrims Haven saw its first seal pup born, this is special because it is the part of the Isle of May that is under the cameras linked to the Scottish Seabird Centre. So now you get a chance to see Isle of May seal pups yourself by dropping into the Seabird Centre in North Berwick or if you can't do that then you can look at them from the link on Seabird Centre website. The pup was born in the middle of the day which is unusual, they are normally born at dawn or dusk. And it was born at the north end of the beach which proved to be a bit of a problem as at high tide the sea comes right to the cliff base. By mid afternoon it was getting splashed and occasionally soaked by the incoming tide. High tide was after sunset so we will have to see what happened to it in the morning.

The Pilgrims haven beach on the west side of the island, sheltered today.

 

Meanwhile on the other side of the island it was blowing a force 9 gale from the north-east. For the island this means rough seas and a BIG swell, 3.5 m to be precise (from the wave buoy  to the east of the island, you can get the swell height from its website!)

 It was quiet day for birds, a few redwings passing through, some small groups of barnacle geese, a ring ouzel and the very tame skylark.

Variety and Contrast

 It is all about contrast and variety in this job. This morning it was blowing a bit but it was a warm wind and in the lee it was warm enough for at least one red admiral to be on the wing, gently reminding us that it wasn't cold yet.
But as the day went on there were plenty of signs that autumn is upon us and winter not that far away.   Taking advantage of the advantageous winds pink feet poured through today, often low over the island taking advantage of every bit of shelter.

Rain showers seemed to pass us by as the wind picked up, even Edinburgh in the distance could be seen to getting them with the sun breaking through over Arthur's Seat afterwards.

And the island doesn't look like it normally does in the visitor season. Around Kirkhaven it is a building site and though it takes a bit of getting used to, it just takes a quick reminder of how good it will be to have a new visitor building to remember that we can live with it.

Nearly time for concreting the footings in.

A surprise today, a cracking looking male stonechat turned up, not a common bird on the May,.

But by late afternoon the wind had moved right round from south-west to north-east and a corresponding 10 degree drop in temperature. Time to light the fire.

At dusk the swell was picking up, the wind whistling round the Lowlight and it was feeling like we had jumped 2 seasons in a day. So plenty of variety and contrast, so what will tomorrow be about?

Seen today - good news and bad news

Can you see them? Find out what below.

Well it was good news and bad news as I went round the island today.
Good news, the moth trap had some fabulous moths in it, including the out of this world canary-shouldered thorn (like a bit of winged belly button fluff) and one of my favourite moths the angle shades.

Canary-shouldered thorn.

3 angle shades.

Bad news

The first seal pup casulty of the year was the pup that was born by the North Horn just the end of last week. There is a high pup mortality on the isle of may so this isn't a surprise, over 20% of pups born on the island die before they reach the sea.

Good news

As one dies more are born, 2 more pups born in the last few days, one at the Rona crossing and the other beyond the North Horn. .

New born pup at the Rona crossing.

The open day pup, pup no.2 was still hanging around but looking a bit different. As it moults its white baby coat, its adult coat is starting to show through, you can see its grey rear flippers and head. It looks a little like it has out grown it's jumper with its flipeprs and head sticking out.

 

And on the news - a carrion crow on the TV aerial .

A weekend of change in the weather

The weather has swung back round to the west. The weather is pleasant and warm but this means that all our star birds from last week have disappeared. 

There are still a few waders around the island including this Purple Sandpiper.

The Great Grey Shrike left on Saturday.

One of 2 Perigrines belting around the island. 

With the weather improving the moth trap has been active. This attractive moth is a Streak.

This featured Thorn was trapped on Saturday and Spruce Carpet is a rare moth for the island.

Kirkhaven - More like Singapore Harbour

All I've been doing all weekend is meeting boats. With the Lowlight run, Wind farm contractors and building material coming out. Once one boat was away another came in prompting builder Gordon to say 'It's busier then Singapore Harbour out here!'

You don't see the May Princess in backwards very often. The Princess made 3 runs over the weekend.

The Forth Linesman came in with another 20 tonnes on board, taking advantage of these big spring tides.

Colin with the RIB Osprey leave via the false entrance. I hope he is keeping count the amount of runs he made this weekend!