Showy at last

After 6 days in the garden, the Eastern Ollie finally showed really well this morning, despite it blowing a gale.

Ollie in the garden

The only migrant I saw all day was a Swallow at West Voe Beach, until 5pm that is, when a Warbler turned up in the garden that turned out to be Eastern Olivaceous 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