21st February

A good birding day with light S / SE winds and overcast conditions; it was the first day of the year that there seemed to be some decent landbird migration over the island, highlights included the first Pied Wagtail of the year at the pier, the first 2 Linnets of the year in off the sea from the south, the first Sparrowhawk of the year at Holland, 2 Peregrines (2cy male and 2cy female) causing havoc amongst the waders and a good total of 173 Skylarks seemingly moving in all direction with c50 trickling south through the day, a flock of 38 which left to the north from the lighthouse and a big flock of 65 in East Loch Park.

                Other totals from some good coverage included 10 Red-throated Divers, the Eurasian White-fronted Goose still, a single Pink-footed Goose, 15 Gadwall (highest count of the year so far), the drake Green-winged Teal on Gretchen, 38 Tufted Ducks (highest count of the year so far), a Merlin, 84 Ringed Plover, 550+ Golden Plover, 80 Sanderling, 162 Snipe (highest count of the year so far), 90 Curlew, 124 Redshank, 20 Black-headed Gulls and 461 Common Gulls (both the highest counts of the year so far), the 5 Chaffinches, 40 Twite, the 3 Common Redpolls and 56+ Snow Buntings.

Peregrine