19th April

With migrants arriving all day, plenty of birds must have gone unfound; but thrushes and other passerines were scattered all over the island by evening. Counts of some of the most numerous species came to 49 Blackbirds, 35 Song Thrushes, 59 Wheatears, 41 Robins, 15 Chiffchaffs and 9 Willow Warblers. A wide range of other passerines included the first 5 Ring Ouzels of the year, 2 Swallows, 1 White Wagtail, 1 Dunnock, 6 Fieldfares, 13 Redwings, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Goldcrests, 4 Carrion Crows, 2 Chaffinches, 7 Bramblings, 1 Siskin, and 4 Common Redpolls.

Despite passerines dominating the day's birding, the scarcest sighting of the day was 2 Black-throated Divers in Linklet Bay. Although a very uncommon bird here, this is already the third record of 2012. A Long-eared Owl, a Sparrowhawk, 3 Grey Herons and 3 Common Scoters were among other non-passerines, and a long-staying Iceland Gull was still around.

Some of the Ring Ouzels found their way to Holland House in the afternoon, and this first-winter male was caught and ringed.

Common Redpolls

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