9 members of  the group met at Liz's house, catching the airport bus at the end of Scapa Crescent and alighting at Tradespark. From there we made our way down the bridle track to the Holm Straight. It was pretty windy so though we saw small birds diving down into the rugosa/ gorse we weren't able to identify them. Once out in the open we saw more - a flock of around 22 bar-tailed godwits was particularly pleasing. Dropping down to Scapa pier there was a redwing and at the pier itself we saw the usual suspects though a tyste was the only auk. A handsome male merganser was fishing close in behind the Harbourmaster's house and the well- camouflaged turnstones were busy turning stones as we made our way towards the Royal Oak memorial garden. Then we turned into the Crantit Trail and made our way back to town. All eyes were peeled for the little egret that had been reported on social media but we were almost at the end of the trail on a total of 29 species when hey - presto the bird appeared from nowhere and did a flypast for us. We were happy with the 30 species we saw on what was a grey, blustery November day.

 

After soup and  a bun the group got to grips with the question of The Future. Liz wished to be relieved of leadership duties and no-one else wanted to take over but we were all keen to see the group continue. It has evolved over the 10 years of its existence but the core membership has remained largely intact: we are all good friends. What emerged from the discussion was a calendar of dates with volunteers taking responsibility for a month each. The agreement was that Liz would circulate the email addresses to everyone with a list of the 2018 - 2019 dates and the leaders for those dates. If someone suddenly found they were unable to honour their commitment they would phone around and try to swap dates etc. These walk leaders would be responsible for emailing the group at least a week in advance about the nitty gritty of their outing. They would also write the blog after the event and would close with a reminder of who would be leading the following month. The principles remain the same: the third Wednesday of the month and a recce of the walk beforehand so we don't end up in a quagmire.

 

The group will review these arrangements in a year to see how they have worked.

 

Please note :

December 12th is the revised date for our next monthly meeting (avoiding Christmas lead-up events) led by Ronnie and Anne Johnston.