22nd-23rd November

Strong south-easterlies and heavy rain on 22nd made for difficult birding conditions once again, but a few hours on the sheltered west coast found reasonable numbers of Robins and Thrushes-some likely new arrivals. Presumably last weeks drake Goosander was now off Nether Linnay, where there was also the first Grey Plover in a while and a Short-eared Owl in the fields. 10 Tundra Bean Geese included 3 possible new birds at Lenswick, with at least 7 still near Gretchen and this was confirmed on 23rd when a whole island 'Goose census' revealed 13 Tundra Bean Geese to be present. A total of 1142 Greylag Geese were counted, plus 56 Pink-footed Geese, the same juvenile Greenland White-fronted Goose and 7 Barnacle Geese. It was also a good chance to tot up some wildfowl numbers and some 335 Wigeon (plus the hybrid), 155 Teal, the Green-winged Teal, 50 Mallards, 9 Pintails, 13 Tufted Ducks and 22 Long-tailed Ducks were among the species logged. There was a movement of Gulls mid-morning with 27 Black-headed, 980 Common, 330 Herring and 75 Great black-backed Gull all recorded heading north up the east coast in an hour, with many passing back south a short time later. There were also 17 Red-throated Divers on the sea, another high count of 179 Rock Doves while passerines included a Black Redstart, 2 new Blackcaps in Holland gardens, a Common Redpoll, 55 Twite and 62 Snow Buntings.