Rise and Fall.

A bit of a fall overnight (first noticed outside the pub last night with the constant screams of Redwings), on the patch all day, checking every cliff, geo, thistle patch, docks, iris beds, gardens, walls, iron age ruins and any other bit of cover ! After all that the results were - 4 Siskin, 2 Blackcap, 13 Robins, 47 Pink-footed Geese, 22 Goldcrests, 61 Song Thrushes, 160 Redwings, 1 Ring Ouzel, 3 Chaffinch, 13 Lapland Buntings, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Jack Snipe, 1 Golden Plover, 5 Wheatear, 1 Kestrel, 1 Swallow, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Whinchat, 1 Brambling, a Water Rail (which spent all day under the roses in the garden) and a patch tick in the form of a late Wryneck, around the cliffs on the headland. A marvelous day and all from a patch that covers just over 2 square kilometres !

Water Rail.

Blackcap.

Brambling.

Goldcrest.

Lesser Whitethroat.

Pink-footed Geese.

Reed Bunting.

Robin.

Song Thrush.

Tree Pipit.

Whinchat.

Common Gull.

Here Come The Bastards.

A pretty similar day to yesterday, with similar birds and similar numbers, the only things new in were 2 Wood Pigeon and a Merlin.
The day was again marred by idiotic bastards wandering into peoples gardens ! When approached the excuse was " I didn't know it was a garden", I'll try to make it simple - if it's got a wall around it and it's next to a house, it's probably a private garden - don't go in !!!!


Brambling.

Wood Pigeon.

Better.

Much better around the patch today, with new birds in and just more around generally. The totals for the day are - 3 Chaffinch, 1 Brambling, 1 Blackcap, 3 Robins, 1 Goldcrest, 21 Pink-footed Geese, 7 Lapland Buntings, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 12 Song Thrush, 3 Wheatear (inc Albino), 21 Wigeon, 2 Golden Plover, 2 Whinchat and a Redstart.


Whinchat.

Blackcap.

Golden Plover.

Pink-footed Geese.

Redstart.

Wheatear.

Wigeon.

No, Not Much.

Not much happening on the patch - 2 Blackaps, a Robin, a Lesser Whitethroat, 17 Lapland Buntings, 6 Song Thrush and a Chaffinch - Roll on the weekend's south easterlies !

Just a Little.

A similar collection of birds around the patch today as the last few days, apart from a stunning Little Gull feeding offshore in front of the house, a Merlin was rattling the waders out on the headland and a couple of Grey Herons on the cliff top were new in.

Little Gull.

Grey Herons.

Merlin.

A few interesting migrants in the moth trap from last night - a Dark Swordgrass, a Large Wainscot, 2 Silver Y's and 4 Diamondbacks .

Large Wainscot.

Dark Swordgrass.

Matter of Time.

More improvement on the patch, it's just a matter of time before something big turns up ! The usual stuff was still knocking around, with 5 Goldcrests, 2 Blackcaps, a Garden Warbler, 2 Siskin, 21 Song Thrushes, a Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Robins, 19 Lapland Buntings, 5 Wheatears (including the reappearance of the albino), a Whinchat and a Black Redstart. New birds were 10 Barnacle Geese,2 Linnets, 2 Grey Heron, a Peregrine and a Redstart.

Barnacle Geese.

Blackcap.

Lapland Bunting (no apologies for anothe Lap photo - they're smart birds, and while I've got these numbers on my patch I'm gonna enjoy them while I can).

Linnet.

Peregrine.

Redstart.

Wheatear.

Aftermath.

In the aftermath of last nights storm, Scatness seems to have survived quite well, the thistles and docks are still standing (but now at 45 degrees), the trees still have plenty of leaves and the one iris bed is still standing tall. Bird wise - well it's better than yesterday anyway, 23 Song Thrushes were kicking about, 11 Goldcrests, a Whinchat, a Redwing, 2 Blackcaps, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Garden Warblers, 3 Brambling (on the beach !), 13 Lapland Buntings, 90 Twite, 1 Robin, 2 Siskin, a Black Redstart and a Greenshank.
'Miguel Sanchez', the mad Sparrow is still in the garden.

Siskins.

Garden Warbler.

Goldcrest (on the cliffs).

Pied Wagtail.

Mad Sparrow.

Storm.

Storm force south easterlies hitting Shetland at the moment, tried doing the patch when it was just force 8 ! Struggled like hell to check the sheltered cliffs, but it was worth it with male Ring Ouzel and a Black Redstart both year ticks, around the other sheltered bits there were - 4 Goldcrests, 4 Lapland Buntings, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, a Robin, 14 Song Thrushes, a Whinchat, a Redwing, 2 Blackcaps, a Wheatear, and a Chiffchaff.
With the winds getting up to force 10 late in the afternoon, it seemed only right to spend the rest of the day in the pub !


Blackbird.

Blackcap.

Whinchat.