16th - 17th February
A lovely couple of days
with much lighter winds and plenty of bright sunshine and with the sheep
round-up now complete there was more time to get out into the field; the two
days were pretty similar with the wintering highlights present throughout which
included the juvenile Kumlien’s Gull floating between the Obs
and Brides, the drake Smew on Bewan and the
drake Green-winged Teal on Gretchen while a little influx of 3 Glaucous Gulls on the 16th comprised an adult past The Lurn and
two juveniles at the north end.
Some good wildfowl and wader counts over the two days
included a single Whooper Swan, 170 Wigeon, 165 Teal, 10 Pintail, 13 Shoveler,
22 Tufted Duck, 8 Goldeneye, 23 Long-tailed Ducks, 94 Oystercatchers, 54 Ringed
Plover, 365 Golden Plover, 3 Knot, 94 Dunlin and 35 Bar-tailed Godwits while the
ringtail Hen Harrier and young male Peregrine still cruised around.
Wintering Passerines were also largely static with
the Black Redstart and c100 Snow Buntings still around the south of the island,
9 Meadow Pipits, 8 Twite, 35+ Redwings and a Song Thrush but a Linnet which
came in off the sea from the south and an increase to 24 Skylarks hinted at
some early passage in the fine weather.
Kumlien's Gull
Bar-tailed Godwits
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