30th January

A nice morning with light winds and a bit of sunshine but a heavy spell of snow at lunchtime turned the island white and was followed by a succession of heavy winter showers through the rest of the day; a walk round Hooking and The Links in the morning didn’t produce too much new but totals included 3 Great-northern Divers, 3 Herons, the Eurasian White-fronted Goose still, 170 Teal, a Merlin, a Grey Plover, 25 Sanderling (including six colour-ring combinations read), 100+ Snipe, 20 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Meadow Pipits, 3 Fieldfares, 14 Redwing and a Song Thrush.   A drive round in the afternoon through the snowy wilderness then added 4 Gadwall, 11 Pintail, 14 Shoveler and the drake Smew on Bewan to the day list.

Sanderling