29th and 30th October
The blazing westerlies of the last couple of days had
slackened off a tiny bit on the 29th and had shifted more into the
north and become much colder; a short seawatch proved to be productive as 5
Sooty Shearwaters, 4 Blue Fulmars, 3 Little Auks, 6 Puffins and 342 large Auk
sp. passed the hide while 7 Red-throated and 5 Great-northern Divers were also
seen. The Green-winged Teal reappeared on Gretchen
along with 20 Gadwall, 12 Long-tailed Ducks, a Goldeneye and 3 Red-breasted
Mergansers while 122 Sanderling and a Ruff were of note.
A
couple of new passerines popped up with a Black Redstart on the west coast and
a Mistle Thrush on The Links while an interesting young male Peregrine, also on
The Links must have had some northern genes in there somewhere. Other land migrants included a Sparrowhawk,
8 Robins, a Wheatear still, 22 Blackbirds, 3 Song Thrushes, 13 Redwings, 4
Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff, 3 Chaffinches, a Brambling, a Siskin, a Common Redpoll
and 64 Snow Buntings.
Peregrine, Simon Davies
The
wind had mercifully dropped away to almost nothing on the 30th and
gradually moved round into the south; the sea, once again provided most of the
interest with our third FEA’S PETREL of the
year passing the hide at 11:30 with presumably the same bird coming back round
at 13:20 (or maybe even a different bird!), also seen offshore were 6
Great-northern Divers, 41 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Manx Shearwaters, 3 Pomarine Skuas, 3 Great Skuas, 4 Skua sp., 30 Little Auks,
51 Puffins and a Minke Whale while hour long sample counts included 1,408
Fulmars (with nine Blues), 881 Kittiwakes and 2,063 large Auk sp.
The Green-winged Teal was again on Gretchen while on the land birds included two
juvenile Rooks by the Obs, 11 Robins, 28 Blackbirds, a Fieldfare, a Song
Thrush, 39 Redwings, a Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Chaffinch, a Brambling and 47
Snow Buntings.
Sanderling, Simon Davies
Red-throated Divers, Simon Davies
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