Lapland Bunting Calcarius lapponicus

Scarce passage migrant, which has been poorly documented on Foula.

With the exception of a few records of birds April - May, birds are recorded mainly through September and October. A favoured haunt for this species in the autumn on Foula, is the northern slopes of Soberlie hill.

Birds are annual, with numbers occasionally reaching double figures. Peak counts of 20 or more include:

• 50 birds on the 6^th September, 1959
• An exceptional count of 100 on the 15^th September, 1966 (Furness, 1983) which co-incided with an invasion of the species. A maximum of 41 were present on FairIsle over the same period (Pennington et al, 2004).
• 20 on the 22^nd September, 1996
• 25 on the 23^rd – 24^th September, 2000
• 25 on 23^rd September, 2002
• 30 on the 14^th September, increasing to 40 on the 21^st September, were then followed by a record 105 birds on the 24^th September, 2010.