Sheldrake

A male shelduck, going by the bulbous upper bill. A walk around Glimps Holm, an island between Lambs Holm to the north and Burray to the south, connected by Churchill Barriers #2 and #3. There is a strip of beach on the east side which attracts dog-walkers but the rest of the holm is rarely visited- I've never seen another walker there. Quite a strong wind from the south so I mainly sat out of it on the north side seeing what birds were about. I hoped for a bonxie- a great skua- after someone got one yesterday on the walk I did yesterday, but missed! No luck, but plenty of other birds- 3 shelduck, 3 great northern diver, red-breasted merganser, eiders, mallard, a pair of raven, a hen harrier, snipe etc. One odd thing was when I looked into a couple of semi-subterranean air-raid shelters and some pigeons flew out. I found within a couple of nests with eggs on the ground. I don't think I have seen that before. The extra shows the north side of the holm just before a shower comes through..