I’ve finally managed to get round to scanning the slides I took on Fair Isle (and North Ronaldsay) back in Autumn 1992. Two weeks on Fair Isle that was notable for being covered in fog for almost the whole time, meaning the rare birds couldn’t find the place. But they could find North Ronaldsay in the Orkney archipelago just across the water. As a result we ended up chartering Sikorskys from British International Helicopters and Bristow Helicopters for two trips south.

The first (23rd September) was to see a Yellow-browed Bunting (with bonus Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler in the hand). The second (2nd October) for a Siberian Thrush which came close to eluding us until it flew from my feet and into a nearby outhouse from which it was rescued.

All photos taken with a Praktica MTL5B camera and 50mm lens and scanned from slides.