Gloomy Sunday.

With rain and fog for most of the day it was a proper Gloomy Sunday, but after the rain had stopped at about 5:30, it was out onto the patch again. A Wood Pigeon spent most of the day perched on a fence in front of the house, on the beach in front of the house there were 15 Knot, 37 Sanderling, 3 Whimbrel and 77 Dunlin, a walk down to the Loch and the first patch year-tick of the day - 2 Black-tailed Godwits feeding in a field with a pair of Mallard, 2 Whooper Swans and a Common Sandpiper were on the Loch and 3 Swallows and a Spotted Flycatcher (the 2nd patch year-tick of the day) were around the gardens at the end of the road. The day ended with a rather tame Gannet on the rocks at Scord Beach.
On a slightly serious note, today's song link is also known as 'the Hungarian Suicide Song' and was banned for years because it was too depressing for radio - listen at your peril !

Gannet.

Black-tailed Godwits.

Spotted Flycatcher.

Whooper Swans.

Wood Pigeon.

On a more serious note - a Wildlife tour group were around Scatness at about 5:30/6pm ish, it's good that the patch is on such an itinerary, however I do wish that they had followed the countryside code a bit better, and made sure that the gate was closed properly ! For those who need a little guidance, here are some instructions -