Empty

2 Lesser Whitethroats and a Yellow-browed in the garden, a two hour walk around Scatness and - just a Kestrel.

Crex

Not a bad day on the patch today - 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, 4 Wheatear, a Kestrel, 2 Slav Grebes (in West Voe), 15 Swallows, 26 Snow Buntings, a Merlin, a Song Thrush and a Redwing. But bird of the day must go to a Corncrake, flushed from a nearby garden this morning.

Corncrake

Kestrel

Lesser Whitethroat

Yellow-browed Warblers

This evening's sunset

The Return

Just as it was getting dark last night, the Blyth's Reed appeared again in the garden - didn't see it at all on Sunday. It was still in the garden this morning for a few minutes before becoming elusive as hell again, it then showed again, reasonably well, at about 4pm. Yellow-browed Warbler, Song Thrush and Lesser Whitethroat also in the garden. Around the rest of the patch were - 44 Pink-footed Geese, 6 Wheatear and a Golden Plover.

Pink-footed Geese

Wheatear

Pinkies

2 Lesser Whitethroats in the garden this morning along with the Yellow-browed Warbler - no sign of the Blyth's Reed, but it is an elusive little bugger. Out on the rest of the patch - a part albino House Sparrow, a Snow Bunting on Moast Beach and 262 Pink-footed Geese over with another 12 on the deck.

House Sparrow

Pink-footed Geese

Confusion in the Garden

Back home (last Sunday) and back on the true patch of Scatness, a good walk around the area and the only rewards were a Stock Dove at Old Scatness, 6 Wheatears and a Merlin. Most of the day was spent in the garden where, excluding Sparrows and Starlings, there were just 4 birds - a Lesser Whitethroat, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Blyth's Reed Warbler !!! I had the Blyth's Reed down as a Marsh, due to the pale tips to the primaries and the fact that the bird kept on raising it's crown feathers - a la Marsh, however as soon as Suave Harv saw the photos he suggested Blyth's Reed.

 

Blyth's Reed Warbler

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Yellow-browed Warbler 

Last Day Out

Last day out birding in Georgia, catching the train to Tbilisi tomorrow, so an afternoon on the Chorokhi Delta was in order. Tried this site last week, but as the temperature was about 30 degrees it was pretty impossible birding ! Anyway it's a big place that looks a bit like Dungeness without the power station - with gravel and Sea Buckthorn everywhere and river channels cutting in every direction. Birded the most accessible areas for about four hours (wasn't in the mood for wading across the fast flowing channels). Here's a list - 1 Steppe Buzzard, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 White-winged Black Tern, 4 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 Dunlin, 5 Little Stints, 1 Purple Heron, 140+ Short-toed Larks, 2 Citrine Wagtail, 40 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Great Reed Warbler, 1 Lesser Grey Shrike, 20 Red-backed Shrike, 4 Olivaceous Warbler, 1 Barred Warbler, 4 Hoopoe, 1 Reed Warbler, 10 Whitethroats, 15 Cuckoo (inc 1 brown one), 1 Wood Sandpiper, 20 Whinchat, 4 Sand Martin and a Turtle Dove - a pretty good afternoon out.

Curlew Sandpiper

Cuckoo

Olivaceous Warbler

Purple Heron

Red-backed Shrike

Steppe Buzzard

White-winged Black Tern

Even Better

An epic day on the patch - a huge torrent of rain at about 5am and the sunshine all day, did the same circuit as yesterday and for about the same amount of hours - 1 Booted Warbler, 3 Olivaceous Warbler, 6 Quail, 1 Nightjar, 13 Isabelline Wheatear, 1 Northern Wheatear, 1 Peregrine, 8 Hoopoe, 6 Redstarts, 1 Black Redstart, 2 Barred Warbler, 10 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Thrush Nightingale, 12 Common Whitethroat, 2 Short-toed Lark, 3 Lesser Grey Shrike, 20 Red-backed Shrike, 1 Wryneck, 2 Savi's Warbler, 1 River Warbler, 1 Marsh Warbler, 30 Reed Warbler, 10 Willow Warbler, 12 Ortolan Buntings, 20 Tree Pipis, 1 Citrine Wagtail, 25 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Slender-billed Gulls, 100+ Sandwich Terns and 40 Gull-billed Terns (which headed inland over Batumi).

Nightjar

Olivaceous Warbler

Savi's Warbler

Thrush Nightingale

Back on Form

Some rain overnight and the patch was back on form, during a 5 hour stint around the old casino site and the nearby park there was 1 Savi's Warbler, 1 River Warbler, an Olivacious Warbler, a Booted Warbler (plus a bird that seemed to fit both), 30 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Isabelline Wheatear, 1 Lesser Grey Shrike, 12 Red-backed Shrikes, 1 Hoopoe, 10 Reed Warblers, 2 Robin, 2 Redstart, 8 Blackcaps, 6 Barred Warbler, 40 Whinchat, 3 Honey Buzzards, 4 Whitethroat, 6 Ortolans, 2 Little Gull, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Peregrine.

Ortolan Bunting

Olivaceous/Booted Warbler

River Warbler

HB's

The patch has been quiet all day - no overnight rain, the only highlight being about 350 Honey Buzzards coming in off the sea.

Honey Buzzards

Kruper's

A couple of hours at Batumi Botanical Gardens and finally connected with Kruper's Nuthatch.

Stocker

Back on the patch again today, after rain overnight, migrants everywhere - 100+ Whinchat, 1 Little Stint (on a carpark puddle !), 40 Little Gulls, 5 Wrynecks, the Black-headed Bunting still, 3 Lesser Grey Shrikes, 34 Red-backed Shrikes, a Savi's Warbler, 2 Olivaceous Warblers, 1 Sedege Warbler, 26 Reed Warblers, 4 Ortolans, 8 Great Reed Warblers, 6 Barred Warblers, a Stock Dove, 2 Spotted Flycatcher and 9 Isabelline Wheatear.

Black-headed Bunting

Great Reed Warbler

Little Gull

Little Stint

Stock Dove

Wrynecks