The awful wind of the last week mercifully began to die
down overnight to leave a pleasant day, I opened some nets in the morning after
it had calmed down enough with a mix of new and re-traps including the Red-breasted Flycatcher, 8 Blackcaps, 2 Lesser
Whitethroats, 4 Robins, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Goldcrest.
I
then walked the west coast census route starting with the drake Green-winged Teal on Gretchen along with an influx of 58 Black-tailed Godwits,
the highlight was a detour up to Sandar to get good views of a smart Short-toed Lark feeding in short grass but other birds included a young male
Peregrine, a Blackcap, a Willow Warbler, 3 Robins, 5 Song Thrushes, 12
Chaffinches, 3 Lapland Buntings and a Snow Bunting.
We
then went over to Southness but failed to find the Red-throated Pipit that was
apparently there but there was a high-flying Arctic Redpoll (almost certainly a
Hornemann’s) overhead – a large, bull-headed, pale, deep calling Redpoll with
an obvious pure white rump, even at long range; enough to call it an Arctic
personally (plus several arriving in Shetland today) but not enough to
officially claim it.
Short-toed Lark
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