1st September

We pretty much wrote off the 31st with hard, driving rain pretty much throughout the day but the 1st was much nicer, consisting of light / moderate SW winds, a bit of sunshine becoming calmer by the evening.   A decent spread of migrants across the island included 4 Sooty and 1 Manx Shearwater off the Lighthouse, 8 Herons, 112 Teal, 7 Pintail, 10 Shoveler, single Hen Harrier and Peregrine, a Grey Plover, 78 Ringed Plover, 88 Knot, 4 Ruff, the Shorelark again on Torness, 22 Sand Martins, 285+ Meadow Pipits, a Whinchat, 202+ Wheatears, the Barred Warbler re-trapped in Holland (first caught on 25th August), 4 Willow Warblers and the first 2 Lapland Buntings of the autumn.

This Wheatear on Torness made us stop, very pale looking with a suspiciously Isabelline-like tail but we just couldn't take that final step with it as it had dark underwings, buffy supercillium and forehead and too much colour on the underparts...it just didn't feel like an Isabelline.