24th-25th October

After the stunning events of the 23rd, it was back down to earth today when thorough searches in the morning of the respective area's of yesterdays American visitors drew a blank. A return to more routine census in the afternoon turned up a few things though with 2 juvenile Iceland Gulls in Nouster Bay and 2 Greenland White-fronted Geese down the west coast the highlights. There were also 20 Whooper Swans (17 of which came in off the sea at Torness), 6 Barnacle Geese still and feeding in the swell with all the Gulls in Nouster were an impressive 300 Sanderlings. A late Swallow was also of note, along with 723 Redwings, 6 Blackcaps, the Tree Sparrow, Siskin, 4 'north-western' Redpolls and the Yellowhammer. A windier 25th wasn't without interest either and once again there were large numbers of Gulls present. One of the Iceland Gulls was still in Nouster while and also counted were 230 Common, 186 Herring and 246 Great-black backed Gulls. A Spotted Crake in the Irises at Westness was the clear highlight, but there also seemed to be a few new birds with 58 Song Thrushes showing an obvious increase especially given that less than 20% of the island was actually birded today! There was probably a few new Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs in too, plus an un-ringed (so assumed new) 'rostrata' type Redpoll at Parkhouse.