Whooper swan

A friend was driving up to Loch of Skaill so I went too. We were looking for a ring-necked duck which has been there for a while. It is an American species so it may have flown the Atlantic. Exotic ducks, though, can often just be escapes rather than wild birds. Wild or not; we didn't find it. We did see another rare visitor, though- a green-winged teal. Lots of other ducks- pochard, goldeneye, tufted duck, mallard, long-tailed duck, wigeon and also grey heron, slavonian grebes, and whooper swans. It was very rough, with an icy wind roughing the water (and the birds). We moved on and watched white-fronted geese at The Loons and then another rarity- a blue-winged teal at a loch called The Shunan