Shortie

Definitely a clear out on the patch with just 2 Whimbrel, 4 Swallows, 20 Purple Sandpiper, 33 Sanderling, 1 Brent Goose, 1 Short-eared Owl and a Chiffchaff.

Purple Sandpiper

Short-eared Owl

Rain

A bit of rain in the morning and the patch was covered with migrants by late afternoon - 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 12 Chiffchaffs, 1 Willow Warbler, 8 Swallow, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Whitethroat, 2 Song Thrush, 1 Brent Goose, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Garden Warbler, 4 House Martin, 3 Reed Bunting, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 White Wagtail, 1 Short-eared Owl and, bird of the day, a female Bluethroat - not showing very well at all as it was on the cliffs.

Lesser Whitethroat

Short-eared Owl

Wood Sandpiper

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

Patch Gold

New birds still coming in to the patch, star bird today was 2 Goldfinches feeding on thistles along the side of a track - proper scarce at Scatness. Around the rest of the patch, Red-breasted Flycatcher (still in the garden), 3 Blackcap, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Redwing, 1 Robin, 2 Swallows, 3 Wheatear, 1 Jack Snipe and a rather showy Short-eared Owl. Another bird of note was the male Pintail x Mallard hybrid has returned.

Goldfinch

Mallard/Pintail Hybrid

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Short-eared Owl

Wheatear

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

Days off

A couple of days off work and there has been a little bit of change on the patch, new birds were 3 summer plumaged Knot and a rather bedraggled Short-eared Owl, the back of the loch is drying out nicely and is being used by a small flock of Dunlin, the drake Garganey is still present and was joined by a female on 18/5.

Dunlin

Garganey

Knot

Short-eared Owl

Sibe Chat ?

Wimped out and only went out on the patch after the rain had stopped, though it was still blowing a gale, but the place was crawling with migrants - mainly Song Thrushes (87) and Robins (29). In addition to this - 1 Short-eared Owl, 3 Chaffinch, 1 Brambling, 1 Siskin, 7 Wheatear, a Jack Snipe, 5 Grey Herons, 31 Wood Pigeons, 5 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff (inc 1 'sibe' type), a male Redstart, 1 Black Redstart, 2 Reed Buntings and 6 Redwing. Still quite a few geese around too - 110 Barnacle Geese and 320 Pinkies. So after seeing that lot, as I was heading home past Colonial Place, up popped at Stonechat onto a nearby fence, on first views I was thinking it was a bit colourful for a Sibe, but the bird had an unmarked apricot coloured rump and seemed to have dark underwings, I managed to get a few crap shots of it before it flew off into the gardens. Despite quite a bit of searching, I couldn't relocate it, but by then it was nearly dark. Less wind forecast for tomorrow, so will have another look in the morning.

Blackcap

Brambling

Short-eared Owl

Siberian ? Stonechat

Song Thrush

History

A few shots from the patch taken earlier this week.

Black-tailed Godwits

Short-eared Owl

Rewards

On part of my patch there is a secret crop field known only to a few, I've been keeping it a bit secret this autumn mainly because access to the crop is only available by cutting through somebody's garden, and although I have permission, I didn't want others to inadvertently cause any problems. That said, I've been checking the crop on every easterly since August and have seen sod all ! That is until today, the first bird to come out of it was a Short-eared Owl which then flew around putting everything up, then out popped 3 Bramblings and finally, right at the very end of the crop, about a dozen Meadow Pipits got up calling and amongst them, calling like mad, an Olive-backed Pipit, luckily it landed briefly on the airport fence for a decent view through the bins, before flying over the runway towards Toab.
The rest of the patch was pretty productive too, with another Short-eared Owl, 6 Goldcrests, 5 Song Thrush, 49 Redwing, 3 Fieldfare, 2 Snow Buntings, 2 Wheatear, a Woodcock, 2 Whooper Swans and a Barnacle Goose.
A Blackcap and another Brambling were in the garden.

Short-eared Owl

Blackcap

Whooper Swans

November

A few highlights from November -

Buzzard - over the patch on the 27/11, not only a year tick, but a patch tick !

The Great Tit remained in the garden until the 20/11.

Scaup, Gadwall, Pochard and Goldeneye - a nice selection for such a small Loch.

Short-eared Owl - 1-3 birds around the patch until the 19/11.



White-fronted Geese - 4 birds on the marshy bit behind the loch on 13/11 and 19/11.


















A few other highlights were - Green-winged Teal on the 19/11 and a flyby Lapland Bunting on the13/11.