Birding Scarborough: Scarborough Birders do the Skerries, DAY 1 & 2

It’s been booked for the best part of a year, 8 nights staying in the Rocklea Crofthouse B&B on the Out Skerries!
The team consisted myself, Scarborough Birders very own Treasurer Steve Wignill and Chairman Nick Addey plus Dave Bywater.

All we had been praying for is a weather system not to get stuck in a rut - a moderate southwest wind for the duration of our stay would probably drive us to suicide!
It was shit or bust!!

During the morning of the 22^nd September I met up with Steve, Nick and Dave at 07.00 as we all set off north for Aberdeen. A rather uneventful journey up there got us in to Aberdeen for 15.30 after a short lunch stop in Jedburgh. Once aboard the MV Hjaltland we found the bar in record time and settled in for the long haul, a short break out on deck as we left Aberdeen produced a couple of Arctic Skua and a Sooty Shearwater.
We departed at 17.00 due to the stop in the Orkneys on the way. The journey was rather smooth and by 06.30 the next morning we were waking up (with thick heads, regretting slightly that 8^th pint of Tennent’s!) and preparing to grab some breakfast before departing.
Off the Ferry a taxi was used to get to Vidlin, where we had an hour or so to kill before the set departure at 11.00 to the Out Skerries.
A little birding there was rather pleasant and encouraging, 4 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Willow Warbler, a Pied Flycatcher, a Wheatear and a Song Thrush were noted as well as 4 Black Guillemot and a few Hooded Crow, always a pleasure to see those species, both of which are pretty rare in Scarborough with no records of either since 2013!

The Ferry journey over took an hour and a half, it was rather smooth and provided us all with our first views of the Out Skerries, what a fantastic looking set of Islands, and our home for the coming few days!

Our first Skerries ‘goodie’ was picked up before we had even docked, 15 Pale-bellied Brent Geese feeding along the shore.
Once on land our first Warbler of the trip was, as predicted, a Yellow-browed Warbler with our second species hot on it’s heels, a male Blackcap.

Bags safely dropped off at Rocklea it was time to hit the field.
It felt really birdy, as Vidlin did, with plenty flitting around to keep you on your toes.
We mainly used the first few hours just to get a feel for the place and felt as though we had, there isn’t too much habitat to get the feel of on here.
Throughout the day we all came up with a respectable tally of common migrants and two of us caught up with the Common Rosefinch, first seen by Michael McKee who arrived on the islands with us today.

By the time we headed back to the B&B for showers and a much needed hot meal I had recorded the following; 8 Snipe, 10 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Willow Warbler, 4 Chiffchaff, 6 Blackcap, 3 Goldcrest, 3 Song Thrush, 1 Redwing, 6 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Lapland Bunting.

The rest of the team also picked up a few other things whilst we all worked the area, most notably a Yellow Wagtail seen by Dave.

Below are a few Yellow-browed Warbler shots, you can't beat em....