31st October

A great end to the month with strong southerly winds and rain overnight dumping another batch of thrushes and some pretty unusual birds too. A great grey shrike by the Observatory was a good start to the day and the long-eared owl and little bunting were still at Holland. Unseasonal sightings included a flava wagtail on the airfield, a whinchat at Garso and a swallow at Bewan. Woodcock were still in good numbers with 39, thrushes consisted a ring ouzel, 174 blackbird, 636 fieldfare, 21 song thrush and 175 redwing. 17 robin and 5 black redstarts were noted, just a lesser whitethroat, 5 chiffchaff, a blackcap and 2 goldcrest were at Holland a scaup was on Gretchen Loch. The day finished nicely when a stunning woodlark was discovered at Westness, just the 3rd island record, the last being in March 1998.