Still Birds

Still a few birds kicking around - the Eastern Subalp is still in the dock and has been seen up by the road, 6 Willow Warblers still in the docks, Blackcap, Robin and Lesser Whitethroat in the garden and 5 Pintail, 4 Gadwall and a Swallow at Loch of Gards.

Blackcap

Migrants!

A few new birds on the patch yesterday - Carrion Crow, 3 Gadwall and a Common Tern. A small fall of warblers in the garden this evening - a Chiffchaff, female Blackcap and an incredibly grey Willow Warbler (acredula?).

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Super grey Willow Warbler

Another Goldfinch

Another Goldfinch on the patch today, that's a total of 6 birds this autumn. Around the rest of the patch - 2 Blackcaps, Merlin (in front of the house), 60 Long-tailed Duck, 5 Red-breasted Merganser (West Voe), 12 Redwing, 3 Fieldfare and a Robin.

Goldfinch

Fieldfares

Long-tailed Ducks

Merlin

Blackcap

Fall

Definitely a fall of migrants around Scatness, nothing out of the ordinary, but a bird filled day none the less.
Totals for the patch - 7 Blackcap, 10 Robins, 11 Chiffchaff, 4 Goldcrest, 1 Chaffinch, 9 Brambling, 1 Dunnock, 3 Song Thrush, 140 Redwing, 60 Fieldfare, 1 fly-over Snow Bunting, 1 Pied Wheatear, 1 Northern Wheatear, 1 Swallow, 1 Brent Goose, 1 Pintail, 5 Whooper Swan, 40 Barnacle Geese, 1 Woodcock and a Short-eared Owl.

Pied Wheatear

Dunnock

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Short-eared Owl

Sun Dog - the brightest one I've ever seen

Weather

Shocking weather today with winds gusting up to 70mph and lots of rain, even with my sense of adventure, my decision to check all the cliffs was probably a bit risky.
Plenty of birds in, day totals - 120 Redwing, 40 Fieldfare, 5 Song Thrush, 4 Blackcaps, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Chiffchaff, 7 Robin, 1 Common Redpoll, 3 Wheatear, 2 Reed Bunting (only record this year), 55 Barnacle Geese, 3 Pintail, 5 Whooper Swan and a Short-eared Owl.

Blackcap

Barnacle Geese

Fieldfare

Pintails

Reed Buntings

Wheatear

Pied Wheatear

Checked all the cliffs and sheltered bits, mainly on the western side of the patch, day totals as follows - 7 Goldcrests, 2 Blackcap, 36 Redwing, 5 Fieldfare, 11 Song Thrush, 2 Waxwing (flushed out of a geo on the island!), 2 Woodcock, 9 Robin and a Common Redpoll. 5 Whooper Swans were still on the Loch and 101 Barnacle Geese went through. Once I'd done all this, I headed down to the last bit of shelter - a dry stone wall that runs along the other side of the field in front of my house. At the very last bit of wall, a Wheatear, and because it was so windy, it was nicely spreading it's tail for balance when feeding and perching on the fence - Pied Wheatear!!! After a few photographs, it was a quick dash up to the garden to get it on the house list. As birders started to arrive, an Olive-backed Pipit was found near Scord Beach - another welcome addition to the patch year-list.

Pied Wheatear

Blackcap

Woodcock

Twitch on !

Back down to earth

Back to grafting on the patch after the excitement of the Accentor and Bunting, quite a few birds in - 4 Blackcaps, 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, 4 Song Thrush, 3 Goldcrest, 13 Redwing, 4 Chiffchaff (3 of which were 'tristis' types), 5 Wheatear, 1 Brambling and 1 Swallow.

Tristis Chiffchaffs

Blackcap

Goldcrest

What a carry on

Over to Bressay for the Black-faced Bunting at Gunnista, and I've never seen a bird that was so flighty, I only managed to see it on the deck twice in 5 hours, once on a fence near a garden for about 2 seconds and again on a dung heap for about 3 seconds, though I did get some pretty good flight views, probably about 20 in all (see map below). A few other birds around - Little Bunting in the crop, Redstart that seemed to turn up pretty well everywhere the BFB was, and a Blackcap and a Robin around the house. 2 Otters were down at the shore.

Black-faced Bunting

Blackcap

Robin

Otter

The approx. flights of the Black-faced Bunting covering about 4 hours

Incoming

Quite a few migrants around the patch today, nothing exceptional, but it's a start.
1 Short-eared Owl, 4 Blackcaps, 9 Goldcrests, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Wheatear, 1 Brambling, 5 Song Thrush, 11 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare, 2 Robins, 1 Chiffchaff, 23 Barnacle Geese and a Shoveler.

Blackcap

Goldcrests

Lesser Whitethroat

Short-eared Owl