Snowblind.

Finally got out onto the patch again, in between snow showers, apart from a few birds leaving not a lot has changed over the last few days - the 6 Common Redpoll are still in with the Twite, a Robin remains in the garden, 110 Long-tailed Ducks have returned to the West Voe/Burgi Area, the Lapland Bunting flock is still present with 29 birds, 50 Wigeon are on Little Holm, 5 Whooper Swan are still on the Loch and a Golden Plover is out on the headland. Birds new in are a late Bonxie, a Moorhen and 3 Tufted Ducks.

Whooper Swans.

Common Redpolls.

Great Skua.

Here comes winter !

Closer.

Spent most of the morning having a closer look at the Redpolls in the 'secret' crop, none of them looked any good for Arctic and all of them showed the dark streak on the undertail coverts.
Elsewhere on the patch - 8 Whooper Swans on the Loch, 14 Lapland Buntings, a Robin in the garden and a Brambling in with the Redpoll.

Common Redpolls.

Whooper Swans.

Sunless Saturday.

A fine start to the day with a Long-eared Owl going past the living room window towards Garth's Ness, this was followed by a text from the missus (who was on the bus to town) saying that 'SuBo' was watching a Buzzard somewhere over the bay, a quick phone call and a mad dash into the garden with the 'scope and Rough-legged Buzzard, though to be fair it was no longer near the bay and was circling somewhere between Quendale Farm and the Noss cliffs.
A good few hours were then spent on the patch trying to avoid the heavy rain showers, 33 Lapland Buntings were in the usual spot, 6 Common Redpoll and a Brambling were in the 'secret' crop along with about 60 Twite, 2 Fieldfare out on the headland, 2 Whooper Swan and the returning Mallard x Pintail hybrid were on the Loch and 2 Bonxies were in Quendale Bay.

Mallard x Pintail hybrid.

Common Redpoll.

Rough-legged Buzzard

Back For More.

Back for more shots of the Issy Shrike, being as it was a nice day and all.... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it !

Elsewhere around south mainland - Ring Ouzel and Grey Wagtail at Quendale, Slavonian Grebe at Boddam, a Kestrel and a Merlin at Grutness and 4 White-fronted Geese and a Merlin at Scatness.

Just a reminder for those visiting the Shrike at Spiggie, the land owner has apparently requested that people should park at the Spiggie Hotel or in one of the passing places and NOT in the field, for those unsure about which field - it's this one -

Just One Fix.

Finally cracked and twitched the Isabelline Shrike at Scouseburgh, and eventually got pretty good views, but by then it was nearly dark !

Isabelline Shrike
Prior to the dirty filthy twitching, the patch was of course thrashed, not a great deal about but the Lapland Bunting flock had risen to 49 ! In the secret weedy field there were 40+ Twite (including a colour ringed bird), 2 Common Redpoll, 2 Brambling and 2 Siskin. Elsewhere on the patch - 4 Whooper Swan, a Wheatear, 3 Blackcap, 2 Goldcrest, 18 Redwing, 4 Song Thrush, 2 Chiffchaff and a Dunnock.

Common Redpoll

Twite.

Siskin.

Dunnock

Whooper Swan

The Jack.

More of the same patchwise - 2 Blackcaps, 4 Robin, 7 Goldcrest, 21 Lapland Buntings, 13 Song Thrush, 3 Chiffchaffs, a Jack Snipe and a Golden Plover.
Surprise of the day was a Minke Whale feeding off Lady's Holm, found while looking for a Red Kite that had flew north from Fair Isle about an hour earlier.

Chiffchaffs.

Goldcrest.

Theyr'e Red Hot.

More of the same on the patch with 4 Blackcaps, 12 Goldcrests, 11 Robins, 20 Song Thrushes, 1 Chiffchaff, 4 Wheatear, 14 Lapland Buntings, 2 Siskin, 30 Redwing and a Merlin.
New arrivals were a Dunnock, a Common Redpoll and a fair number of Snipe, with about 60 seen during the day, the last bird of the day was a Short-toed Lark (presumably the same bird from the thistle field and from Exnaboe) flushed from the Bristow hill, which then decided to land in the airport between the 2 runways !


Common Redpoll.

Blackcap.

Robin.

Snipe.

10/10.

10/10/10 - and out on the patch by 10 past 10 ! Similar birds around the patch to yesterday, but less of them - 2 Blackcaps, 10 Robins, 13 Goldcrests, 3 Wood Pigeon, 14 Song Thrush, 15 Lapland Buntings, 12 Pink-footed Geese, 5 Wheatears (still hanging on), 2 Siskin, 1 Ring Ouzel (still on the cliffs), 40 Redwing, a Brambling and 3 late Bonxies.
Something of a surprise in the moth trap this morning - an extremely late Map-winged Swift, these normally finish flying in August and the last one in the trap was on August 21st.




Map-winged Swift.

Goldcrest.

Lapland Buntings.