7th and 8th October
A truly horrendous day on
the 7th to perfectly coincide with the now annual Bird Observatory
Bird Race with force 8 SW winds and hard, stinging, driving rain pretty much
throughout the whole day; we managed a very respectable 74 species through the
day considering the challenging conditions with the bird of the day going
incredibly to a Robin found behind one of the few sheltered
walls on the island – that in itself is the ideal illustration of the autumn so
far! Other bits through the day
included a Heron, 2 Whooper Swans, a Pintail, a Red-breasted Merganser, single
Peregrine and Kestrel, 2 Jack Snipe, a Black-tailed Godwit, the late Arctic
Tern still lingering on Gretchen, a Swallow, 10 Wheatears, single Fieldfare and
Song Thrush and 7 Bramblings which amazingly appeared to come in late in the
day.
A decent day on the 8th with much, much
lighter winds and dry conditions through until more rain moved in late
afternoon; wildfowl were on the move through the day as totals included 91
Pink-footed Geese, 424 Greylag Geese, 33 Barnacle Geese, a single Pale-bellied Brent Goose and 127 Wigeon. Much improved landbird totals comprised a
Hen Harrier, a Kestrel, 2 Merlin, 2 Peregrine, the first Woodpigeon
of the autumn, 128 Skylark, 4 Swallows, 248 Meadow Pipits, 15 Rock Pipits, 10
Wheatears, 52 Blackbirds, 5 Fieldfares, 120 Redwing, 2 Blackcap, a Willow
Warbler, 8 Brambling, the first 2 Goldfinches of the autumn, a Lapland
Bunting and 23 Snow Buntings.
Redwing
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