8th and 9th November

Bright and sunny first thing on the 8^th but that soon degenerated into a blazing gale force southwesterly with rain by lunchtime; there were a few bits around in the spell of decent weather including a juvenile Iceland Gull which flew past The Links, a late Wheatear on Lenswick beach and the drake Green-winged Teal still on Gretchen.

                Other birds of note comprised 5 Herons, 359 Wigeon, 119 Teal, single Hen Harrier, Merlin and Peregrine, 2 Jack Snipe, a Woodcock, 37 Meadow Pipits, 17 Rock Pipits, 2 Robins, 2 Song Thrush, 8 Redwings, 13 Twite and 33 Snow Buntings.

                Almost a write off on the 9^th with even stronger westerly winds bringing vicious hail showers seemingly every few minutes, there were longer gaps between the squalls in the afternoon allowing us to at least half-heartedly get out into the field which produced 658 Greylag Geese, 14 Long-tailed Ducks, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Red-throated Divers, a Great-northern Diver, the Hen Harrier, a Woodcock, 5 Robins, a Fieldfare, 38 Redwings, 16 Twite, 10 Snow Buntings and 6 Reed Buntings.

Wheatear,   Simon Davies

Purple Sandpiper,   Simon Davies