After an afternoon of dramatic storms on 4th which saw even more of the sheep dyke 'taken down' by some impressive waves, the 5th was a much calmer day by comparison. The latter date allowed some birding to be done in the morning and saw masses of Gulls feeding in the swell off the north west coast and among the commoner species was a single juvenile
Iceland Gull and the juvenile
Glaucous Gull from last week. At the southern end an impressive 32
Red-throated Divers took advantage of the only sheltered bay around the Island, while the
Black-tailed Godwits had moved to the now '
brackish' Gretchen Loch and numbered 12. A few Geese have possibly arrived as there are now 3
Pink-footed Geese present and one of the
Greylag x Canada Geese hybrids from last year seems to have returned. 10
Pintail were also new into Garso, and on 4th a female
Chaffinch had joined the wintering
Song Thrush at Holland House.
The sheep dyke crumbling as the waves hit the west coast and the sea flows freely into Gretchen Loch.
Miraculously the birdwatching hide survived the onslaught, but very little of the sheep dyke did!
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