12th - 15th February

A quiet few days with little change in the islands birdlife but we were hampered by some blazing strong, gale force winds and driving rain while sheep punding and fixing Heligoland traps took up plenty of time as well.   A feeding flock of 350+ Kittiwakes and 120 Auks (mainly Razorbills feeding off the north end on the 12^th was noteworthy while hundreds of storm driven Gulls on the east coast on the 14^th included 400+ Common Gulls, 130 Herring Gulls, 70 Great Black-backed Gulls and a single Black-headed Gull.

                A flock of 10 Twite at Neven were surprisingly the first of the year on the 12^th (unusually no Twite wintered on the island this year) and a 2^nd winter Glaucous Gull flew south past Trinley on the 15^th.   Wintering Passerines remained constant throughout this period with the Black Redstart still, 50+ Fieldfares scattered across the island, 22 Skylarks and 80+ Snow Buntings seen daily while the ringtail Hen Harrier, Peregrine and Merlin popped up sporadically.

Reed Bunting