5th and 6th April
A rough couple of days with the blazing westerly wind making
census pretty hard work but we all put the time in and there were birds to be
seen; the Northern
Harrier was still floating around and
the Green-winged Teal yet again
reappeared on Gretchen on the 5th while wildfowl and wader counts included
7 Gadwall, 15 Red-breasted Mergansers, single Whooper Swan and Goldeneye, 424
Golden Plover, a single Grey Plover (only the third record so far this year)
and 221 Turnstone.
Passerines
continued to trickle in despite the weather as counts comprised 190 Meadow Pipits,
9 Rock Pipits, 10 Wheatears, 15 Redwings, a Rook and 4 Snow Buntings.
Raven, photo Simon Davies
The
year’s rarest bird – our unexpected Kingfisher was re-found in a different ditch bordering
Hooking on the 6th while the Green-winged
Teal was still present (we’re beginning to wonder how long he spends
elsewhere and how long he spends hiding in the ditches at the back of Gretchen,
admittedly a site which gets checked several times a day!).
Other
little bits during this quieter day included 2 Great Skuas – the first time
they have come ashore onto Torness, single Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Merlin,
13 Wheatears and a Chiffchaff.
Sandwich Tern, photo Simon Davies
Grey Plover, photo Larissa Simulik
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