18th and 19th November
No let-up in the gale force westerly winds on the 18th
although there may have been a few less showers (although I might be being a
bit optimistic in that statement!); not much coverage today but there were
still at least 94 Dunlin on The Links where there was also 310 Wigeon, 4
Long-tailed Ducks and a Great-northern Diver with a Goldeneye on Hooking.
Finally,
the blazing winds slowly began to ease through the 19th but stayed
pretty much in the west but with long periods of sunshine it was a much better
day all round, the main event was the annual Orkney Winter Goose Count, during
which we ended up with a total of 1,451 Greylag Geese across the whole island
but unfortunately no other Geese species!
We
had longer out in the field today which produced some good totals with the
highlight being an influx of 120 Snow Buntings with several flocks seen
heading south along with a Jack Snipe, 6 Robins, a Song Thrush, 25 Redwings
(including one which was chased and caught by a Hooded Crow), a Chiffchaff
still and 7 Twite. Other little bits
included 36 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Grey Plover, 390 Golden Plover, 3
Red-breasted Mergansers, 13 Pintail, 2 Whooper Swans and 6 Herons while a quiet
seawatch just produced 440 Fulmars, 5 Great-northern Divers and 60 Auk sp.
Greylag Geese
Snow Buntings
Whooper Swans
Pictures Simon Davies
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