30th April and 1st May
An insane day with hardly
a breath of wind, not a cloud in the sky and flat, mirror calm seas on the 30th;
it was a perfect day for scanning out across the sea and one lucky observer was
rewarded with a cracking full summer plumaged White-billed Diver briefly at the mouth of Nouster Bay before flying off
round the corner while other totals included 44 Great-northern Divers, the Black-throated Diver again in Nouster, 7 Red-throated Divers, 11 Long-tailed Ducks
and 5 Red-breasted Mergansers.
It was quieter on the land as migrants of note
consisted of a drake Garganey on Ancum, 2
Woodpigeons, a Rock Pipit, 2 Dunnocks, 33 Wheatears, a Ring Ouzel, single
Redwing and Fieldfare, 2 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaffs, a Willow Warbler, 4 Rook, 7
Carrion Crows, a Brambling, a Goldfinch and 2 Common Redpolls.
Another lovely start to the day on the first day of
May but the cloud slowly built up and the SE wind gradually increased to become
overcast, windy and chilly by the evening (although it felt much ‘rarer’!); the
day’s highlight was an immature White-tailed Eagle (probably a 3cy) which
flew up the west coast, landed on Torness briefly before flying back south,
high out at sea.
There was a slight increase in common migrants across
the island with a few things turning up as the weather changed but it remained
generally slow as totals included a Sparrowhawk, a White Wagtail, a Dunnock, a
Mistle Thrush (first since 17th April), 5 Blackcaps, 5 Chiffchaffs,
a Goldcrest, a Brambling, 2 Siskins and 2 Carrion Crows. Waders continued to trickle in (building up
to the usual mid-May peak counts) and included 48 Knot, 86 Sanderling, 33
Dunlin, 52 Bar-tailed Godwits and 206 Turnstone while the Kumlien’s Gull continued to fade and
bleach as it keeps wandering up and down the east coast.
White-tailed Eagle Mark Warren - Heatherlea
Arctic Tern Simon Davies
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