1st January - 6th February
It's been a very windy start to 2022 and with staff not present from the get go the numbers have been few and far between but I'm sure we can cobble enough sightings together for a worthwhile read!
The first notable sighting of the year was a 1w Glaucous Gull on Gretchen on the 7th Jan, the big absentee from the loch however has been the usual Green-winged Teal, having spent the best part of a decade on the island it appears he's either moved on or passed on.
The island has played host to a good number of Thrushes over the winter and Fieldfare numbers have been especially high with 30-40 birds around Cauldhaim and a further 20 or so between Holland and the obs. While Redwing seem to be more widespread throughout the island in smaller flocks.
A pair (not really, obviously) of 1w Glaucous Gulls have been hanging around the North end of the island although to have departed now.
A group of unseasonal Black-tailed Godwits have also been hanging around with numbers climbing up as high as 10 on 4th February at Ancum, but a flock of 9 were seen in mid-January and a single bird at Breckan was followed by 6 at the school in late January.
Otherwise its been pretty much business as usual with good wildfowl numbers on most of the lochs and a lot of time taken up with finishing off 2021's jobs like the ringing data and the Bird Report, we should have updates on the latter and new staff in the very near future so keep an eye out for that!
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