Baltic !

Out on the patch again, and it was bloody freezing in the northerly wind - 'proper Baltic'. A few birds of note - a Barnacle Goose in with the Greylags, 2 Whooper Swan, 5 Goldeneye and 6 Tufted Duck on the Loch, a Red-throated Diver in Quendale Bay and 30 + Snipe scattered about the place. The better birds, however, were seen from the living room window in the afternoon - 72 Fieldfare going north and a flock of 59 Snow Buntings over the house. Still a couple of Robins at Scatness along with a few Skylarks and a couple of Meadow Pipits.

Barnacle Goose.

Goldeneye.

Snipe.

Whooper Swan.

Snobs.

A flock of 35 or so Snow Buntings have been kicking around in front of the house for the last couple of days.

More White-fronts.

At last, something to look at (well sort of !), 3 White-fronted Geese (ad + 2 juvs) in front of the house mid afternoon. Now that the autumn seems to be over this could be the highlight of the winter ! Only 6 months until spring tho', and several months in between of short days, long nights, rain, gales and S.A.D.

White-fronted Geese.

Back on the Patch.

After being in Lerwick all week, it was good to be out at Scatness again, quite a few birds still kicking around - 6 Jack Snipe still in the 'wet bit', along with 2 Woodcock, a first year Glaucous Gull around Moast Beach and 2 Snow Buntings out on the headland. Other stuff included - 3 Robins, 40+ Redwing, 60+ Fieldfare, around 25 Blackbirds and 3 Song Thrushes.


Song Thrush.

Snow Buntings.

Purple Sandpiper.

Glaucous Gull.

Fieldfares.

Lerwick.

In Lerwick all week, so the only things of note were - 7 Jackdaws over Holmesgarth on Wednesday (plus 2 over there on Thursday) and a Robin in the garden on most mornings.

Y Fronts.

A text from Rob saying that there were 2 White-fronted Geese in the field behind his house and, after a quick walk up the steps in the garden to the garage, these were then added to the garden year-list - now on 124 ! I don't think that Rob realised, at the time, that I can 'scope that field from the garden.

White-fronted Geese.

Fog.

Fog all day ! 1 Robin in the garden and a Woodcock flushed from by the garden gate were the only birds of any note (the Woodcock brings the garden year-list up to 123).

Cheers to PK for the very humorous video below.

Thrushes.

Hundreds of Redwing, Blackbird and Fieldfares moving south through Scatness today - a pretty awesome spectacle. Also at Scatness were - 3 Robins, 4 Woodcock, 3 Song Thrush and a Mistle Thrush. A Yellow-browed Warbler was in the garden for a while this morning.

Yellow-browed Warbler.

Fieldfares.

Purps.

Something of a clear out last night, but still the odd bird around - Dunnock in the garden, Swallow around Sanblister Beach, 2 Jack Snipe in the wet bit and a Snow Bunting on Scord Beach. Spent a good while photographing the tame Purple Sandpipers near to Moast Beach.

Purple Sandpipers.

Great Black-backed Gull (with Plaice sp).

Bullfinch.

Now that the weather has calmed down (now a light northerly), birds were emerging from where ever they'd been sheltering all week. In Toab there were 9 Robins, a male Black Redstart, a Jack Snipe, a Chiffchaff and 4 Song Thrushes. At Scatness - 6 Robins, a single Snow Bunting and a fantastic count of 8 Jack Snipe (flushed from the tiniest boggy bit of the thistle field).
A Blackcap and 2 Robins were in the garden along with a female Bullfinch (the first record for the garden since the big Bullfinch invasion of 2004, and the 122nd species on the 2009 garden list). Thrushes were everywhere today e.g. 176 Blackbirds at Scatness and 300+ Fieldfares around Toab.
An Otter showed well hunting off the end of the runway.
On a slightly stranger note - how weird is this ? -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NltmFRYN9os


Bullfinch.

Blackbird.

Jack Snipe.

The 'wet bit', where 8 Jack Snipe were flushed.

Otter.

Garden.

As the SE gales continued, birding was restricted to checking the sheltered bits in the garden every now and then (mainly through the window) - 2 Blackcaps, a Robin, a Brambling and 2 Song Thrushes sheltering in the roses were the only birds of any note.


Song Thrush.

Brambling.

Blackcap.