Another gusty day today, meant the third day in a row this week with no boats to the island. There is much talk of the autumn approaching and the season coming to close amongst the residents, adding to an already blustery and restless feel to the day. With minds occupied by the future there was hope for the wind blowing something of avian interest our way. 

Stuart caught sight of a flock of 22 Sand Martins off the tip of the South end, which sowed the seeds of hope for a productive day. Steve, Jeff & Richard spotted a Black-tailed Godwit while they were sea watching at the Observatory.

Stuart and Louis spent the rest of the morning taking some visitors on a Manx Shearwater guided walk, where they talked in length about one of our favourite resident birds and undertook the weekly growth rate data collection. The chicks are making great progress, so much so that one of the Manx Shearwater chicks was too large to extract from it's burrow! We will have to wait until it's slimmed down a bit and developed it's adult feathers. 

The House Martins on the north side porch nest are still entertaining the Obs staff, it's great to hear them chirping and bickering with each other as they begin to outgrow their little home. We all find it very amusing to peer up to the mouth of the nest and see a pair or two of beady eyes staring right back at us.

The rest of the day was spent preparing the Obs for our reopening of the whole hostel, working together to ensure the safety and comfort of our guests for the rest of the season following the most up-to-date evidence based COVID19 practices.