29th and 30th March
Overcast with the brisk easterly breeze remaining on the
29th saw a few new arrivals on the isle with a male Lapland Bunting near the Obs the
highlight along with a range of other typical March landbird migrants including
119 Meadow Pipits, 31 Pied Wagtails, 41 Blackbirds, 2 Goldcrests, 4 Snow
Buntings and single Dunnock, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Wheatear and
Chiffchaff while 78 Linnets feeding in Kirbest crop was a big increase. The regular ringtail Hen Harrier and young
male Merlin were still cruising around chasing things.
Goldcrest, photo Simon Davies
The
light easterlies continued into the 30th which, when combined with
slightly warmer temperatures is a sure fire recipe for fog which proved to be
the case with mist and murk first thing slowly clearing to produce a beautiful
day before coming back in mid-afternoon.
These constantly changing conditions brought a few new birds in with 2 Black Redstarts at the north end, 5 Woodpigeons,
18 Rock Pipits, 47 Blackbirds, 18 Redwings (including some dark, long winged Icelandic
coburni birds) and single Mistle
Thrush, Goldcrest, Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Snow Bunting recorded.
There
were some good wildfowl counts made through the day including the single
Pink-footed Goose with 770 Greylags, 9 Shelduck, 168 Wigeon, 7 Gadwall, 74
Teal, 8 Pintail, 9 Shoveler, 24 Tufted Ducks and a single lingering Goldeneye. Also of note was a significant count of 320 Purple Sandpipers with big flocks
feeding at high tide at Brides and Bewan while other waders included 178 Golden
Plover and 183 Turnstone.
Redwing, photo Simon Davies
Redshank, photo Simon Davies
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