19th February

A decent day, bright and clear with a decreasing WNW wind which dropped off to almost nothing by late afternoon; some good coverage from a walk round the coast from the Obs to The Links and then a drive round the rest of the lochs produced some further increases in wildfowl and wader numbers including year’s high counts of 246 Teal, 97 Mallard, 9 Red-breasted Mergansers and 370 Lapwings.   Other totals of note comprised 4 Little Grebes (with birds now on Brides, Hooking and Garso), 3 Pink-footed Geese (not sure where they’ve been since they were last seen on the 10th), 263 Wigeon, 7 Gadwall, 6 Pintail, 11 Shoveler, 22 Tufted Ducks, 220 Golden Plover, a Knot, 25 Dunlin and 170 Common Gulls.

                There were some increases on the land as well, most notably a total of 107 Skylarks along with a Hen Harrier, a Song Thrush, 4 Chaffinches, the 3 Common Redpolls, 55+ Twite and 80 Snow Buntings.   With the very calm conditions in the late afternoon I opened the nets at Holland and was rewarded with a beautiful young female Merlin which, as well as getting caught herself managed to chase five Fieldfares into the nets.

Red-breasted Mergansers getting in the groove