Supermarket sweep

It's January, so as is the way of things these days, I remember that I am not immune to a little competitive birding. After all, when you're the worst birder in the house, you have to take your chances when you see (or hear) them.

Essentially, if I wake early on New Year's Day, I can be ahead of the game for about two hours, or until Megan surfaces from her slumbers. For the remainder of the 364 days and 22 hours, I'm fighting a losing battle as, short of a miracle, I'm not going to see (or hear) as many species as she is.

Now, for the first few months, most of my list seems to come from birds seen whilst driving about for work, or the weekly food shop. But the other night, I did have one moment of complete chance which, if I'd kept quiet, would've been quite the domestic coup. In the wee small hours, I couldn't sleep, worrying about some of those little things which beyond all reason keep folk awake. Outside in the pitch black and freezing cold, I heard some geese calling, and was compos mentis enough to realise that they were neither Greylags or Pink-footed. Smiling to myself, and a little less tense, I dropped off to sleep and promptly forgot about the experience. The next morning, I eventually remembered, and asked Megan if she had heard them. Her look of astonishment made me realise that I should have kept my mouth shut.

"I thought I had dreamt the Barnacle Geese," she said.

Doh!

Skipping forward to Friday afternoon, we had a few things to do in Kirkwall, so went for a pub lunch and then ran our errands. Megan went clothes shopping whist I headed to the bank, then we met up again for a circuit of the Peedie Sea, before I went for a haircut and Megan bought a few things for tea.

A good friend and occasional visitor to Orkney calls the Peedie Sea the "town duck pond". It's a body of shallow water in the centre of town, hemmed in by a row of supermarkets on the south side, the power station and police station on the east side, a BMX and skateboard park on the west side and a busy road and a sea-wall on the north side. All very urban, but an excellent place for a spot of bird watching.

Back in the 18th Century, it was still sea, and the shore was almost at the foot of the steps of St Magnus Cathedral.

Over the centuries since, more and more land has been reclaimed from the sea. Here's an OS map from 1900 showing an additional road (Junction Road) between the cathedral and the Peerie Sea (there's an amount of conjecture over the name, and if/when it has changed).

And now, as Google satellite view shows, there's also Great Western Road before the Peedie Sea. The circular portion of the waterbody is a boating lake.

So here we are, up to date and happily garnering bird species as we amble around the perimeter path. In Winter, there are Whooper Swans, Long-tailed Ducks and Goldeneyes, as well as the more usual fare of Mute Swans, Tufted Ducks and Mallard. There can often be waders too: Redshank, Ringed Plover and Turnstones. And occasionally, rare gulls from the far north put in an appearance.

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling so well with an upset tummy, so didn't accompany Megan on an Orkney Field Club outing in the parish of Orphir. Predictably, I'm 15 species behind now and will likely spend the rest of the Winter trying to catch up 😲🙄🤣