19th-21st October

 A very wet and windy few days has left most of dreaming of warm heaters and waterproof trousers that don't leak like a sieve! The prevailing easterlies make us think there are birds to be found but not in the pouring rain that has probably started to sink the island.

An influx of Thrushes has been the main talking point with over 1500 Fieldfare and 750 Redwing appeared overnight on the 19th joined by 2 Ring Ouzels, the large flocks of Thrushes presented hope for another mega rare Thrush but it hasn't played out that way....or so far at least! The other bird of note was a rather sodden Short-toed Lark on the 20th at Neven. Good numbers of wildfowl coupled with a bumper Gull count on the 21st left us something to sift through, however the 321 Herring Gulls and 243 Great Black-backed Gulls weren't hiding anything amongst their faction. Wigeon counts totalled over 300 birds on the 19th and again on the 20th while the 3rd Goldeneye of the Autumn was present on Bewan. Otherwise we're picking the bones of birds from a week or so ago with a small scattering of Robins and Chiffchaffs still lingering in various dry corners of the island.

With the weather improving over the next couple of days there's a bit of anticipation in the air for what tomorrow might bring. 

                                   Redwing 


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