6th and 7th November
Still windy on the 6th with showers sweeping
through; time spent in the field was limited with most of the highlights coming
from a morning seawatch which comprised the first Velvet Scoter of the year, 416 Fulmars,
9 Sooty Shearwaters, a Little Auk, a Puffin and 345 large Auk sp. while the sea
also produced 3 Red-throated Divers, 3 Great-northern Divers and 5 Risso’s
Dolphins. The limited sightings on the
land included 2 Robins, 12 Fieldfares and 36 Redwings.
A
surprising day on the 7th, as after some light rain had moved through first
thing it was a great day in the field, with much lighter winds than the
forecast had promised; the main feature of the day was a good arrival of 104+ Woodcock (not all the island was covered) while other birds on the land
in the calm weather included a Jack Snipe, 2 Hen Harriers, 2 Peregrines
(including a new ‘Arctic’ type male), 34 Skylarks, 39 Meadow Pipits, 30 Rock
Pipits, 10 Robins, 55 Blackbirds, 24 Fieldfares, 4 Song Thrushes, 68 Redwings,
3 Blackcaps, 4 Chiffchaffs, 3 Chaffinches, 2 Bramblings, a ‘Northwestern’ type
Common Redpoll and 36 Snow Buntings.
We
took advantage of the surprise good weather and did an impromptu, semi-organised
wader count round the coast at high tide where most noteworthy was an excellent
total of 804 Purple Sandpipers along with 589
Turnstone, 170 Redshank, 106 Curlew, 12 Bar-tailed Godwits and a single
Knot. Also feeding in the surf round
the shore were good numbers of Gulls with 496 Common Gulls, 19 Black-headed
Gulls and 174 Herring Gulls.
Wildfowl
totals included 365 Wigeon, 21 Gadwall, the Green-winged Teal,
315 Teal, 48 Mallard, 3 Pintail, 12 Shoveler, 235 Eider, 10 Long-tailed Ducks
and 8 Red-breasted Mergansers while 7 Heron stalked around the edges.
Arctic Peregrine, Bryony Baker
Common Redpoll, Simon Davies
Woodcock, Simon Davies
Blackcap on the Beacon, Simon Davies
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