A decent day, bright and clear with a decreasing WNW wind
which dropped off to almost nothing by late afternoon; some good coverage from
a walk round the coast from the Obs to The Links and then a drive round the
rest of the lochs produced some further increases in wildfowl and wader numbers
including year’s high counts of 246 Teal, 97 Mallard, 9 Red-breasted Mergansers
and 370 Lapwings. Other totals of note
comprised 4 Little Grebes (with birds now on Brides, Hooking and Garso), 3
Pink-footed Geese (not sure where they’ve been since they were last seen on the
10th), 263 Wigeon, 7 Gadwall, 6 Pintail, 11 Shoveler, 22 Tufted Ducks,
220 Golden Plover, a Knot, 25 Dunlin and 170 Common Gulls.
There
were some increases on the land as well, most notably a total of 107 Skylarks
along with a Hen Harrier, a Song Thrush, 4 Chaffinches, the 3 Common Redpolls,
55+ Twite and 80 Snow Buntings. With
the very calm conditions in the late afternoon I opened the nets at Holland and
was rewarded with a beautiful young female Merlin which, as well as getting
caught herself managed to chase five Fieldfares into the nets.
Merlin
Red-breasted Mergansers
Common Gulls
Purple Sandpipers
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