NORTH RONALDSAY and ORKNEY in Spring for birders

SAT 6 MAY – FRI 12 MAY 2023

SAT 4 MAY – FRI 10 MAY, SAT 11 MAY – FRI 17 MAY 2024

PRICES: from £1695pp

Single Supplement £130. Deposit: £300pp Max 7 clients. Leader George Gay (2023)

This holiday features the best of Orkney in spring, including the fabulous migration outpost of North Ronaldsay. The birding potential here is tremendous, who can forget the 2017 Red-winged Blackbird or the 2019 Mourning Dove! – both enjoyed by Heatherlea groups! We hope to tap into prime-time spring passage, when this tiny island is a magnet for large numbers and a great variety of birds.

We transfer from Heatherlea to mainland Orkney with our ferry crossing offering a variety of seabirds. Our first full day in the field will be spent birding Mainland Orkney where we hope to find nesting birds including Red-throated Diver, Hen Harrier, Shorteared Owl and an abundance of waders. We will take in some of the seabird colonies and if we get word of any scarce migrants or Orca nearby can be flexible to try and target them too.

The short (15 minute) flight to North Ronaldsay, in the 8 seat, Islander plane offers a unique opportunity to see the beautiful Orkney Islands from above. We stay at the Bird Observatory, the perfect base where we can witness and learn about the daily ringing and bird census throughout our stay. Our birding schedule will be dictated by weather on a largely flat island, with good roads and easy access to most ‘hotspots’. In the right conditions, fantastic falls of Scandinavian bound migrants can arrive, with Tree Pipit, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and a wide variety of warblers and finches. Scarcities including Dotterel, Wryneck, Bluethroat, Red-backed Shrike, Icterine Warbler, Lapland Bunting and Common Rosefinch may be found during this period. We have timed our visit with one of the best periods for both migrants and rarities – our tours have certainly been lucky in the past! Local breeding birds include Twite, Black Guillemot, Raven, Arctic Tern and Fulmar, while thousands of migrant waders can be present with huge flocks of Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Knot and Sanderling lining the beaches, mostly in stunning summer plumage.

Please note that this is a ‘for birders’ tour, principally focused on finding and identifying rare birds of our own. For those who would like a more general tour of North Ronaldsay & Orkney, we recommend our Orkney Island Explorer (p36) or Orkney in High Summer (p41) holidays.

Total species c. 90. Number of centres: 2.

SAT 6 MAY – FRI 12 MAY, SAT 13 MAY – FRI 19 MAY, SAT 20 MAY – FRI 26 MAY 2023

SAT 11 MAY – FRI 17 MAY, SAT 18 MAY – FRI 24 MAY 2024

PRICES: from £1745pp

Single supplement: £225. Deposit: £300pp

Max 7 clients per leader. Leaders Holly Page & Ian Ford (2023)

This cracking holiday celebrates the tremendous birding available here in spring. We stay for six nights on the Outer Hebrides and popular target species include Corncrake, both eagles, Hen Harrier, Short-eared Owl, four Skuas, waders in summer colours, Otter and perhaps the first returning Red-necked Phalarope or lekking Ruff, on the islands of South Uist, Benbecula, and North Uist. We also target any rarities on the southern Hebrides during our visit, and these can be special; Black-billed Cuckoo, White-winged Tern, Snowy Owl, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Rose-coloured Starling, Arctic Redpoll, Buff-breasted Sandpiper and American Wigeon have all been recorded in recent years, and Dotterel are possible too – a great six days!

We cross the famous Skye Bridge, travelling through the island to Uig. Sea-watching as we cross The Little Minch to Lochmaddy might include skuas, Manx Shearwater and Fulmar, Gannet, Black Guillemot and the other breeding British auks are expected.

Everyone who has ever joined this holiday has seen Corncrake, and we target this special bird almost as soon as we arrive. Corn Bunting, Ringed Plover, Meadow Pipit and Skylark make the machair a special habitat – full of song! Summer-plumaged Great Northern Diver are likely, as are ‘real’ Rock Dove and Raven. Arctic Skua breed, Great Skua are usually seen, and in westerly winds often see passage of Pomarine and Long-tailed Skua offshore, sometimes by the hundreds –unforgettable! Gull numbers are good, with a scattering of scarcities thrown in, such as Iceland and Glaucous Gull. Mountains hold both Golden and White-tailed Eagle, meadows and fields support Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl, and we often watch Otters playing on the coastline. Rare and delicate Red-necked Phalarope are expected from the middle of the month, and other waders should include Whimbrel, both godwits, and thousands of Dunlin, Knot, Sanderling and Turnstone, many in summer plumage. We return via Skye, before driving to Nethy Bridge on Friday evening after a feast of birds! We stay in comfortable en-suite accommodation throughout.

Total species c. 90. Number of centres: 1.

SAT 6 MAY – SAT 13 MAY 2023

SAT 11 MAY – SAT 18 MAY 2024

PRICES: from £1895pp

Single supplement: £230. Deposit: £300pp

Price excludes flight from Aberdeen. Max 7 clients. Leader Mark Warren (2023)

This holiday combines the long days of late spring with superb birding. May is a great time, with migrants arriving daily (sometimes in impressive 'falls' of hundreds of birds), many in fine breeding colours. We dedicate time to searching for our own rarities, and typical scarce birds include Red-backed Shrike, Bluethroat, Common Rosefinch, Wryneck, Rustic Bunting and Subalpine Warbler, with ‘overshoots’ from the Mediterranean expected. If the winds shift to the south-east, birds of Eastern Europe or even Siberia might be found. Anything is possible!

A visit to Hermaness on Unst is always superb, with Great and Arctic Skua and nesting waders such as Golden Plover, Snipe and Dunlin at close range on a moorland walk. At the cliffs we have incredible views down into a bustling gannetry and enjoy other seabirds in high numbers at the most northerly part of Britain! Other key destinations include Sumburgh Head, one of the best land-based watchpoints for Killer Whales, under-watched West Mainland for migrants and the island of Fetlar, a good place for Otters and famous for nesting Red-necked Phalarope, which in an ‘early spring’ can return about this time.

We take time to bird many of the voes and inlets, looking for passage seaduck and Great Northern Diver. White-billed Diver and King Eider are annual, and on headlands in the west we may see a late Snow or Lapland Bunting, or perhaps passing Dotterel. There is the possibility of Pomarine and Long-tailed Skua on passage in westerlies and our groups have struck lucky in the past, such as in 2019 when they found a spring Buff-breasted Sandpiper! There are many nesting waders, with Redshank, Lapwing, Curlew, Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover at high densities, large numbers of Twite, Rock Pipit and Wheatear, and rare nesting birds including plentiful Red-throated Diver, Whooper Swan and Whimbrel; a feast of birding!

This holiday is best suited to birders because should a rarity turn up, or if we need to spend time identifying a tricky bird that takes precedent. Historical sites, shops and cultural aspects take a backseat on this holiday in favour of superb birding! Number of centres: 2.

Combine with:

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

Highlands and Skye (p17) Birding the Highlands in May (p17), Highlands & Corncrake (p18), Birding the North Coast 500 (p18).

SCOTTISH ISLANDS

North Ronaldsay & Orkney in Spring for birders (p32), Shetland in Spring for birders (p33), Shetland Island Explorer (p34), Islands on the Edge (p35).

Combine with:

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

Birding the Highlands in May (p17), Highlands & Corncrake (p18).

SCOTTISH ISLANDS

North Ronaldsay & Orkney in Spring for birders (p32), Outer Hebrides in Spring (p33), Shetland Island Explorer (p34).