16th November

Heavy rain and a strong south-east wind overnight delivered perhaps the final fall of the year making for a surprisingly busy day in the field. There wasn't a huge amount of variety, but a dawn to dusk 'thrash' around roughly 50% of the island revealed some decent totals of late migrants. As expected, thrushes dominated with 311 Blackbirds, 750 Fieldfares, 10 Song Thrushes and 226 Redwings counted while at least 50 Woodcocks were also located. The drake Green-winged Teal had relocated to Gretchen Loch (and hence following the pattern of behaviour of last years wintering bird) and also seen were 6 Grey Herons, 17 Pink-footed Geese, 7 Barnacle Geese, the Common Scoter, 2 Hen Harriers, a Jack Snipe, 9 Robins, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Chaffinch, 7 Linnets, 23 Twite and a Snow Bunting.

Green-winged Teal (photo Mark Warren)