Twitchers delight as rare petrel sighted in Scapa Flow

A very rare White-Chinned Petrel was spotted and photographed at Scapa Flow earlier this week.

The bird was seen and snapped by Robert Foubister on Monday.

According to local bird watcher Andy Mitchell the bird is a resident of southern oceans around the globe, breeding on the remote islands there, such as the Falklands.

He said: “There are only a handful of records in the Northern Hemisphere and only one in the Northern Atlantic, off the coast of Maine in 2010.

“Luckily, Robert is an excellent photographer and his photos show all the features of the bird. It’s the same family as our Fulmar but larger, about the size of a Bonxie. The plumage is dark sooty brown contrasting with a pale horn coloured bill, and Robert’s photos even managed to pick out the white chin. It’s a day he won’t forget and neither will the rest of Orkney’s birdwatchers!”