2nd November

There's still plenty of birds coming and going through the island as there's no sign of the autumn finishing just yet. Today's quality was provided by the second drake Green-winged Teal of the autumn on Gretchen Loch from mid-afternoon. Clearly a much less advanced individual than the 'full adult' present on 26th October, it still has a large number of un-moulted juvenile/eclipse plumage in the form of 'barred' feathers in the flank and covert areas. Also worthy of a mention were a Long-eared Owl near Longar, a Grey Wagtail at the Pier and a smart, adult male Lesser Redpoll caught and ringed at Holland gardens. Counts of commoner species were essentially similar to yesterday, with 8 Woodcocks, 78 Robins (fewer than on 1st, but there's clearly some turnover as none of the recently ringed birds were re-trapped) , a Black Redstart, 2 Ring Ouzels, 715 Fieldfares, 619 Redwings, 9 Song Thrushes, 68 Blackbirds, 2 new Blackcaps and 18 Goldcrests. There was also a Greenfinch at the Observatory and single Sparrowhawk and Peregrine among the raptors seen.

Green-winged Teal

 

Lesser Redpoll