5th September

A frustrating day with a couple of near-misses, but a pleasant one none-the-less in some autumn sunshine. The main cause for angst was a likely Tawny Pipit which flew over Westness calling, before being seen to land (and briefly watched at a distance on the ground) at the point only to somehow vanish into thin air! Several hours of searching failed to re-find it. There was also a promising description from a visiting birder of a Citrine Wagtail at Bewan, but this too wasn't confirmed while the American Golden Plover which came in off the sea on 3rd has also yet to be re-located. Hopefully we'll have some better luck tomorrow! There a little good news though, beginning with a Barred Warbler trapped and ringed at Holland House in the morning. A Pied Flycatcher was also there, a Crossbill at the Observatory, 2 Lapland Buntings flew over and there was another surge of Wheatears and Meadow Pipits with 181 and 852 counted respectively. The Pectoral Sandpiper remains on Gretchen, 2 Curlew Sandpipers were at the north end and at least 2 Peregrines were seen.

Barred Warbler