14th October

A clear night followed by a moderate, southerly breeze by morning encouraged many of yesterdays birds to move on but in their place came a fresh arrival of birds typified by the ringing session at Holland gardens which included just 1 re-trap among the 70 birds caught for ringing. There was another highlight too - this time a cracking little Firecrest found outside the Observatory just after midday and finding its way into a Heligoland trap a short time later. A commoner encounter for many of the team further south, its rarity here was well appreciated being just the fifth island record (that's the same as Pechora Pipit and Woodlark) and its the first since October 2011. The Northern Harrier was seen again several times, a Richard's Pipit which flew over the Observatory was new and the lingering Great Grey Shrike put in a brief appearance near Holland gardens in the morning. Also making it into the days bird-log were 9 Grey Herons, 2 Kestrels, a Short-eared Owl, the Grey Wagtail, a fresh batch of thrushes which included 29 Fieldfares and 368 Redwings, a Lesser Whitethroat, 12 Blackcaps, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, 6 Chiffchaffs, a Siberian Chiffchaff at Ancum Loch, 76 Goldcrests, 9 Chaffinches, 19 Bramblings, a Siskin and 362 Snow Buntings.

Firecrest (photo George Gay)

Brambling (photo George Gay) 

Lesser Whitethroat (photo George Gay)