Marwick Waves

Pretty strong westerlies at Marwick today (or W,WNW,SSWerlies). But sunshine too, most of the time as I walked over the cliff path from Marwick to Birsay Palace. Hoped to see my first returning bonxies, great skuas, but no luck, even as reports were popping up on my phone of sightings elsewhere in the islands. I did get a nice raven on the clifftop (extra). Oystercatcher numbers well up, about 100 at Marwick and the same at Birsay so birds from south returning to join the ones that braved the winter here. Also shelduck, eider, wigeon, red-breasted merganser, purple sandpiper, turnstone, gannet, curlew etc. I think that is a group of jackdaws over the cliff in the main picture.