Today started with a Barn Owl hunting in a plot of land on the way to Kirkwall. Later, a Short-eared Owl showed well in a field at Garth Farm (exactly where a Hen Harrier showed well a few hours later). In between, a walk along the Mull Head Coastal Path produced some notable records including a Snipe on a fencepost;  Sedge Warbler singing;  MANY Fulmars on the cliffs (apparently lone singles or pairs but almost certainly brooding a juvenile under their feathers); Large White, Green-veined White, Common Blue and Meadow Brown butterflies; all four breeding auk species, two separate Arctic Skuas (klepto-parasitising Puffins particularly) and a pair of Great Skuas; a few gannets offshore; three Twite near Mull Head; a passage of Kittiwakes (and two Cormorants) past the head; a single Whimbrel calling as it flew inland to a field pool. Later in the evening, a visit to Birsay Bay produced more Arctic Terns, Arctic Skuas, Eider broods, Ringed Plover and Sand Martins to add to the week’s totals plus two new species in the shape of Shelduck and Dunlin.