More Migrants

Quite a few more migrants on the patch today, though there was no sign of yesterday's Subalp. Totals for the day - 7 Whimbrel, 16 Knot, 5 Sanderling, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Brent Goose, 2 Gadwall, 1 Grey Heron, 19 Arctic Tern, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Whinchat, 1 Robin and 1 Reed Bunting.

Bar-tailed Godwit (with Oycs)

Brent Goose

Knot

Whinchat

Swallow

Barred

On the patch today - 2 Willow Warblers, 1 Whinchat, 1 Shoveler, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Grey Heron, 1 Golden Plover, 2 Pink-footed Geese, 1 Lapland Bunting, 1 Little Stint and a Barred Warbler.

Barred Warbler

Bar-tailed Godwit with Curlews

Grey Heron

Little Stint

 

Waders

A few of the waders from Moast Beach.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Lots of Knot

One More

And today's exciting year-tick..... Wood Pigeon, yes, the patch really is that bad ! 2 hours around the patch for the Wood Pigeon, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Pintails, 4 Chaffinch and 2 Robins. A small bonus was that one of the Great Northern Divers is now in summer plumage and was quite close in.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Great Northern Diver

The Weekend

A pretty quiet weekend, a bit of a break from the sport on the telly on Saturday to 'dirty, filthy twitch' a Pallid Harrier at Sumburgh Farm - seen twice in the pissing rain.
Back out birding on the patch today - 2 early Barnacle Geese, 9 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Gadwall and a Curlew Sand.

Bar-tailed Godwits

Barnacle Goose

Two Days of Frustration

After emptying the Moth trap yesterday morning, there were 3 birds tazzing around the garden, one was a Willow Warbler that perched up nicely and posed, the second one was a bit more elusive and turned out to be a female Blackcap and the third bird was so elusive that it only flushed at the last second and then flew over the house to god knows where ! The bird then showed up a couple of hours later in the front garden, perched up in the roses for long enough to get my bins to it - Booted Warbler !!!! it then flew over the house into the plantation. I saw the bird on 2 more occasions before it went dark - but no photos.
This morning there were more birds in the garden - Lesser Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher and 2 Willow Warblers, but no sign of the Booted. So I sodded of to do the rest of the patch - no more passerines but, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, 2 Little Stints, 28 Dunlin, 9 Sanderling and a Curlew Sandpiper. Back at the house, a quick thrash through the plantation, and the Booted was still there. This time flying into a thistle patch in the field, camera in hand I walked slowly through the thistles - no sign ! 2 hours later it was in the garden again for brief views through the kitchen window before heading back to the thistles - again it just seemed to disappear, so I walked all the thistles, weeds, long grass, stone walls and any other bit of cover within a few hundred yards of the house - all in vain. I did a final thrash in the plantation at 6pm, nothing but the Lesser Whitethroat !

Spotted Flycatcher

Sanderling

Little Stint

Bar-tailed Godwits

All Gone

All the Little Stints from the patch seem to have bogged off, I didn't see a single one today, or any Curlew Sands, a few decent birds were kicking about though - the Spotted Redshank was around the Loch, a Bar-tailed Godwit was in the cow field and a juv Little Gull (year-tick) was in West Voe before flying over to Scord,
In the garden the Pied Flycatcher remains, joined now by a Willow Warbler and a Blackcap.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Little Gull

Pied Flycatcher

Waggy.

Yellow Wagtail added to the patch year list with a bird on one of the beaches in front of the house, elsewhere around the patch - 3 Blackcaps, 2 Willow Warblers, 2 Pied Flycatchers, 4 Redstarts, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Whinchat and a Song Thrush. Wader wise, there was 6 Knot, 5 Ruff, a Bar-tailed Godwit and a Common Sandpiper. Still a bit hard going with a strong south easterly still blowing and lashing down with rain for most of the day.

Pied Flycatcher.

Yellow Wagtail.

Whitethroat.

Bar-tailed Godwit.

Common Sandpiper (not some weird long billed, wing barred small Shearwater !).

Ruff.

Spotted Flycatcher.

Nice weather for ducks.

Lashing with rain all day, still 2 Shoveler on the Loch were overdue year-tick, as was a Bar-tailed Godwit. Other than that the Siskin remains in the garden, the Brent Goose and the Canada are still knocking about and the 2 Gadwall are still on the Loch. Despite the weather this month, it seems not to have effected the moth trap very much, in fact, the 325 Hebrew Characters that were caught is the highest number that I've ever had ! (253 in 2009 and 154 in 2008).


Shoveler.

Bar-tailed Godwit.