16th February

A lovely calm start with a light easterly breeze slowly increasing through the day; there was no evidence of any other new arrivals after yesterday’s ‘excitement’ as totals around the south end of the island and a brief look at the north end included 11 Great-northern Divers, the 2 Whooper Swans which left to the south in the morning, the Eurasian White-fronted Goose still, 8 Pintail, 19 Long-tailed Ducks, a Hen Harrier, 61 Oystercatchers, a Knot, a noticeable build-up of Black Guillemots around the south end starting to display, 29 Skylarks, a Robin at Holland, the 5 Chaffinches, 60 Twite, 3 Common Redpolls and 51+ Snow Buntings.

Shag