29th-30th September
Another two days of interesting weather and superb birding around the island. The 29th was another one of those days that produced some ridiculous birds and good birding while the following day was a total wash out of 70mph winds which kept staff indoors until 4pm when it finally cleared.
The 29th was billed as being a 'big day' and duely delivered with a distribution of migrants across the island including a very rangy Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll first found at Newbiggin before heading to Hooking. The first Red-breasted Flycatcher of the Autumn was at Nether Linnay while Yellow-browed Warblers were on the Links, around the pier, at Neven, there were also three birds in Holland and around the middle of the island. A Barred Warbler was trapped at Holland and smatterings of commoner migrants included Lapland Buntings, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Robin and some long-stayers such as the Long-billed Dowitcher and the Great-spotted Woodpecker. The birds of the day fell to an Olive-backed Pipit at Stennabreck our first since a possible fly-over bird in 2020 and a Radde's Warbler, which is only the third island record and the first in just under 25 years!
The big winds arrived overnight and by the morning the island was blasted by gale force winds and driving rain that made getting out of the obs nearly impossible let alone going birding! However by 4pm the gale had blown itself out and we were treated to a very different looking island! The rain had filled up many of the previously dried out 'wet bits'. The only real highlights were four Ring Ouzels which were the first for the Autumn.
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