3rd-6th October
As you can probably tell from the lack of posts its been nothing short of mental here over the past few days. The sheer number of common migrants has been a bit overwhelming at times and with a few goodies thrown in for good measure it's been a week to remember for the staff and guests.
The Easterlies have been fairly consistent and with rain involved almost everyday bar the 5th it's been a recipe for migrants that's proved rather tasty. I think the best course of action is to go through high totals for the last few days and throw in the odd rarity!
3rd October- 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Buzzard, 2 Little Buntings, 43 Snow Buntings, Common Rosefinch, 69 Brambling, 3 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 3 Willow Warbler, 39 Chiffchaff, 15 Yellow-browed Warbler, 5 Garden Warbler, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Barred Warbler, 181 Robin, 3 Tree Pipit, 122 Goldcrest, 2 Red-throated Pipit and Eyebrowed Thrush.
4th October- 1 Buzzard, 6 Willow Warbler, 40 Chiffchaff, 7 Yellow-browed Warbler, 106 Goldcrest, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Barred Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1459 Redwing, 446 Song Thrush, 16 Fieldfare, 17 Ring Ouzel, 105 Robin, 1 Spotted Crake, 1 Osprey, 2 Rustic Buntings, 1 Red-throated Pipit and Eyebrowed Thrush.
5th October- 10 Willow Warbler, 43 Chiffchaff, 4 Yellow-browed Warbler, 144 Goldcrest, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Barred Warbler, 4 Reed Warbler, 4 Whinchat, 1 Stonechat, 106 Robin, 4 Dunnock, 2 Richard's Pipit, 1 Red-throated Pipit, 1 Short-toed Lark, 3 Rustic Buntings and Eyebrowed Thrush.
6th October- Lingering migrants were coupled with a late arrival of birds after a spell of rain. There's still birds to be found tomorrow as the arrival occurred so late in the day! 4 Whooper Swan, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 2 Short-eared Owl, 4 Willow Warbler, 123 Chiffchaff, 6 Yellow-browed Warblers, 3 Garden Warblers, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Barred Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 228 Goldcrest, 1 Rosefinch, 1 Little Bunting, 1 Short-toed Lark, 2 Red-throated Pipit, 1 Rustic Bunting, 2 Red-breasted Flycatcher, 1 Red-backed Shrike, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Pallas' Warbler and 1 Eyebrowed Thrush.
As you can see there's a lot of birds around hense the brief blog post. For clarity the Red-throated Pipit numbers account for at least three individuals with birds at Kirbest, East Loch Park and Westness. Rustic Buntings are a similar story with three proven individuals at Hooking, Brides and Antabrek. The Red-backed Shrike is the same ringed bird from a few days back, the Common Rosefinch and Buzzard also refer to one individual. It's been long days in the field recently so please excuse the blogs clinical demeanour this time around! It looks going forward weather wise too! It's exciting times on North Ronaldsay!
Comments