18th - 19th August

The north-westerly winds persist, but as expected the occasional interesting bird trickles in despite the blustery conditions. After a rather stationary 18th when a Swift was the only new bird the 19th was such a day with a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope the pick of the arrivals, joining the lingering adult on Gretchen Loch. Another Phalarope sp. was seen on a sea-watch (also thought likely to be Red-necked) but just too distant to identify, with other sightings from a 2 hour effort being 28 Manx and a single Sooty Shearwater, 8 Storm Petrel and 749 Fulmars-including the first dark morph of the year. A Common Rosefinch in Holland gardens was also the first of 2014 with a Sand Martin around the south end the only other passerine of note.



 

Red-necked Phalaropes