7th October

We kept the lightish winds from yesterday which slowly but surely swung from the west to the NE but we gained long periods of heavy, wet drizzle; there was no sign of any of yesterday’s unconfirmed birds but our second Buff-breasted Sandpiper of the year was found in fields at Lochend and our third Blyth’s Reed Warbler of the year was identified retrospectively from photos in the Haskie Thistle fields while the Short-toed Lark was still at Nether Breck, the Barred Warbler was still present and the Red-breasted Flycatcher was still in Holland.

                Migrant totals today included a 2 Kestrels, a Merlin, Short-eared Owl, 16 Swallows, a Tree Pipit, 32 Rock Pipits, 11 Robins, 4 Redstarts, 2 Whinchats, 57 Wheatears, 4 Song Thrushes, 24 Redwings, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 13 Blackcaps, a Yellow-browed Warbler, 12 Chiffchaffs, 4 Willow Warblers, 2 Goldcrests, 2 Bramblings, 29 Chaffinches, 13 Lapland Buntings and 10 Snow Buntings.

                A two-hour seawatch produced 12 Sooty Shearwaters, a late Manx Shearwater, 547 Fulmars, 6 Red-throated Divers, 2 Great-northern Divers, 2 Great Skuas and a late ‘Commic’ Tern while wildfowl included the Green-winged Teal, the Scaup, 7 Whooper Swans, a Long-tailed Duck and 6 Red-breasted Mergansers.   Waders continued to be prominent with the picks being 939 Golden Plover, a Little Stint, 17 Ruff, a Woodcock, 51 Black-tailed Godwits and 339 Turnstone.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Brambling

Photos Simon Davies