20th March

Not a bad morning with a moderate westerly breeze and some sunshine but it deteriorated by the afternoon becoming wet and windier; the day’s highlight was a lovely adult Kumlien’s Gull at Bewan in the afternoon.   There were some other hints of early spring movements through the day with a female Stonechat at Howar, a much-improved total of 12 Pied Wagtails and a further influx of 168+ Black-headed Gulls (including 70+ back at the Hooking colony).

                A seawatch first thing produced decent totals of 167 Kittiwakes and 565 Auk sp. while a trickle of Skylarks and a couple of Golden Plover came in off.   

Other totals with some good coverage included 7 Red-throated Divers, 5 Mute Swans, 6 Shelduck, 189 Wigeon, 6 Gadwall, 205 Teal, the drake Green-winged Teal still on Gretchen, 10 Pintail, 35 Tufted Duck, 8 Long-tailed Ducks, 3 Goldeneye, 20 Red-breasted Mergansers (the highest total of the year so far), a Hen Harrier, 334 Golden Plover, 174 Lapwing, a Knot, 147 Purple Sandpipers, 19 Dunlin, 105 Redshank, 150 Turnstone, the 2 Woodpigeons still, 140 Skylarks, 16 Rock Pipits, 2 Chaffinches, 32 Twite, a Common Redpoll and a Snow Bunting.

Kumlien's Gull                                               Simon Davies