"Aren't the northern lights brilliant"...........

After a very interesting journey to the end of the world- Hamningberg-with a little birding on the way we returned to Vardo to prepare for an attempt at Leach's and Storm petrels. It was a little too windy but we gave it a try-unsuccessfully as it turned out BUT as we sat by the net and semi-darkness fell we were treated to a superb display of the Aurora Borealis which was much more inspiring than what we saw a couple of nights ago. We will try to post some of John 's pics when we get the technical know-how. A night over in Vardo thanks to the hospitality of Elin and Alonza meant we had a lie in and very little ringing today. We arrived back at Nesseby at around 3 pm after a couple of awesome stops on the way giving the team views of White Billed Diver followed by an amazing sight of hundreds of gulls feeding on a fish frenzy. They were being harassed by lots of Arctic Skuas, but then an otter appeared tackling an Eider duck which it wrestled with for several minutes before giving up and letting a very luck duck flap away! We caught some birds in the garden while Dave and Col tried for some waders with some success, but in truth it feels like the waders are moving out so we may get very few in our remaining days. However we have the possibility of an even better show of the lights tonight if the clouds lift, and tomorrow looks great for migration so another early morning start for us. No problem though because only a couple more days to go so we must make the most of it. Chief chaff 1 House sparrow 1 Curlew sandpiper 1 Dunlin 2 Ringed plover 2 Willow warbler 5 Willow tit 1 Great tit 8 Brambling 2 Redpoll 1 Total 24 The major downside of the day came through at 5 o'clock when we (Col) heard that the Saddlers had lost 3-0 at home to Preston.......